grammar mygrammar;
string : '"' ( ESC | ~('\u0000'..'\u001f' | '\\' | '\"' ) )* '"';
number : HEX_NUMBER | '-'? INTEGER_NUMBER ( '.' INTEGER_NUMBER )?;
HEX_NUMBER : '0x' HEX_DIGIT+;
INTEGER_NUMBER : DIGIT+;
WS: (' '|'\n'|'\r'|'\t')+ {$channel=HIDDEN;} ; // ignore whitespace
fragment
ESC : '\\' (UNI_ESC |'b'|'t'|'n'|'f'|'r'|'\"'|'\''|'\\');
fragment
UNI_ESC : 'u' HEX_DIGIT HEX_DIGIT HEX_DIGIT HEX_DIGIT;
fragment
HEX_DIGIT : ('0'..'9'|'a'..'f'|'A'..'F') ;
fragment
DIGIT : ('0'..'9');
ID : ('a'..'z'|'A'..'Z'|'_') ('a'..'z'|'A'..'Z'|'0'..'9'|'_')*;
here is the error message I get in the ANTLRWorks console
[14:49:09] error(208): mygrammar.g:7:1: The following token definitions can never be matched because prior tokens match the same input: T__16
If I comment out the string line it generates code, how do I have both the string and the number rules at the same time?
I think you're seeing a bit of a strange error because you're using an operator in an illegal place. The range operator, .. (dot-dot), is only valid inside lexer rules. Your string rule is a parser rule, which should be made a lexer rule instead.
So, instead of:
string : '"' ( ESC | ~('\u0000'..'\u001f' | '\\' | '\"' ) )* '"';
do:
STRING : '"' ( ESC | ~('\u0000'..'\u001f' | '\\' | '\"' ) )* '"';