(flex.info)Can I fake multi-byte character support?

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Can I fake multi-byte character support?
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     To: Heeman_Lee@hp.com
     Subject: Re: flex - multi-byte support?
     In-reply-to: Your message of Thu, 03 Oct 1996 17:24:04 PDT.
     Date: Fri, 04 Oct 1996 11:42:18 PDT
     From: Vern Paxson <vern>
     
     >      I assume as long as my *.l file defines the
     >      range of expected character code values (in octal format), flex will
     >      scan the file and read multi-byte characters correctly. But I have no
     >      confidence in this assumption.
     
     Your lack of confidence is justified - this won't work.
     
     Flex has in it a widespread assumption that the input is processed
     one byte at a time.  Fixing this is on the to-do list, but is involved,
     so it won't happen any time soon.  In the interim, the best I can suggest
     (unless you want to try fixing it yourself) is to write your rules in
     terms of pairs of bytes, using definitions in the first section:
     
     	X	\xfe\xc2
     	...
     	%%
     	foo{X}bar	found_foo_fe_c2_bar();
     
     etc.  Definitely a pain - sorry about that.
     
     By the way, the email address you used for me is ancient, indicating you
     have a very old version of flex.  You can get the most recent, 2.5.4, from
     ftp.ee.lbl.gov.
     
     		Vern