GATE CS 2008 Q11 — Parsing (LL, LR)

In bottom-up (LR) parsing, a handle of a right-sentential form $\gamma$ is a production $A \rightarrow \beta$ and a position in $\gamma$ where the substring $\beta$ may be found and replaced by $A$ to obtain the previous right-sentential form in a rightmost derivation.

Thus, a handle is characterized by two components:

1. The specific production $p$ ($A \rightarrow \beta$) that will be used for the immediate next reduction step.
2. The exact position in the current sentential form where the right-hand side ($\beta$) of this production is located.

Therefore, Option D is the most accurate description of a handle.