2008/10/01 by David R. Musser, Musser, David R., Gor V. Nishanov +1
Computer Science · #Algorithms and Data Compression #Data Structures and Algorithms (cs.DS) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Network Packet Processing and Optimization #cs.DS #semigroups and automata theory
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0810.0264
arxiv created 2008/10/01 · openalex publication_date 2008/10/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A string matching -- and more generally, sequence matching -- algorithm is presented that has a linear worst-case computing time bound, a low worst-case bound on the number of comparisons (2n), and sublinear average-case behavior that is better than that of the fastest versions of the Boyer-Moore algorithm. The algorithm retains its efficiency advantages in a wide variety of sequence matching problems of practical interest, including traditional string matching; large-alphabet problems (as in Unicode strings); and small-alphabet, long-pattern problems (as in DNA searches). Since it is expressed as a generic algorithm for searching in sequences over an arbitrary type T, it is well suited for use in generic software libraries such as the C++ Standard Template Library. The algorithm was obtained by adding to the Knuth-Morris-Pratt algorithm one of the pattern-shifting techniques from the Boyer-Moore algorithm, with provision for use of hashing in this technique. In situations in which a hash function or random access to the sequences is not available, the algorithm falls back to an optimized version of the Knuth-Morris-Pratt algorithm.