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1.1 Notation

A particular variant of EBNF (Extended Bachus Naur Form) will be used to describe the FunnelWeb syntax. In this variant, literal strings are delimited by double quotes (e.g. `"string"`), optional constructs by square brackets (e.g. `[optional]`), and constructs repeated zero or more times by braces (e.g. `{zeroormore}`). Constructs to be repeated a fixed number of times are enclosed in braces followed by a decimal number indicating the number of times to be repeated (e.g. `{sixtimes}6`). Constructs to be repeated one or more times are enclosed in braces and followed by a `+` (e.g. `{oneormore}+`). The traditional BNF "`::=`" is replaced by the visually simpler "`=`". The traditional BNF angle brackets are abandoned.

Although FunnelWeb allows the special character to be changed using the construct "<special>=", use of "<special>" to refer to FunnelWeb's special character is cumbersome and abstract. To simplify the presentation, the default special character "`@`" is used throughout this chapter to represent the special character.

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