Syntactic conventions

Many of the pages in this guide describe the syntax of parts of the Certora Verification Language using a modified version of the EBNF format.

When reading the syntax blocks, keep the following in mind:

Text in double quotes is a terminal that matches the exact string. For example, "pragma" matches pragma, and "." matches .
Names that are not in double quotes are nonterminals that refers to other parts of the grammar. For example, number matches 1 or 2 or 372.
Multiple items placed next to each other can be separated by whitespace. For example, "pragma" "specify" number "." number matches pragma specify 1.5 and also pragma specify 0.3. Note that this is different from the EBNF format described in the link above (that format would add a comma between items).
An item surrounded by square brackets is optional. For example, "pragma" "specify" number [ "." number ] matches pragma specify 3.1 and also matches pragma specify 3.
An item surrounded by curly braces may be repeated 0 or more times. For example, number { "." number } matches 3 and 3.1 and 3.1.4.1.5
Items separated by a vertical bar represent different alternatives. For example, "use" "rule" id | "use" "invariant" id | "use" "builtin" "rule" id matches use rule foo and also matches use invariant bar but does not match use rule foo use invariant bar.