Scope of Child State

Hello,

In general, it is not necessary or beneficial to use a state for a number. Usually, a number pattern group could be defined instead. For an integer number, you could use the pattern, “{Digit}+” with a lookahead of, “{NonWord}|\z”. This pattern would be in an number pattern group, and that pattern group would be placed in the default state instead of creating a child state.

Does this do what you need? If not, could you please describe the special circumstances that your language has that necessitate using a state instead so that we can best describe how to make this work?

Two examples of where states are best to be used include strings and comments, where there is a clear start and end, and the text between is interpreted completely different than if the lexer were in the default state.

Ok, that solves the problem.
I defined it as a pattern group in the default state and that worked!
No I understand the using of states better. Thanks for the clear and quick answer!