What is the BNF (or BNF-like) syntax for a specific number of repetitions?

Question

I would like to write something like

<byte> ::= <bit>*8

to mean that a <byte> is a sequence of exactly 8 <bit>'s.

Is there a way to do this in BNF[1][2] or a widely used extension of BNF? How?

Answer 1

In BNF, you would just define that by repeating the symbol:

<byte> ::= <bit> <bit> <bit> <bit> <bit> <bit> <bit> <bit>

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On the other hand, Augmented Backus–Naur form defines repetition:

<example> ::= *<bit>

The above means:

<example> ::= "" | <bit> <example>

So, none or more bit.

For one or more you can say:

<example> ::= 1*<bit>

For a range (for example one to four), inclusive:

<example> ::= 1*4<bit>

Or a fixed number:

<example> ::= 8*8<bit>

Which you can also write like this:

<example> ::= 8<bit>

Note: In ABNF, < and > are optional.