text: The like regular expression predicate has been part of the SQL standard since at least 1989. However, despite its popularity and wide usage, database vendors provide only limited indexing support for regular expression queries which almost always require a full table scan. In this paper we propose a rigorous and robust approach for providing indexing support for regular expression queries. Our approach consists of formulating the indexing problem as a combinatorial optimization problem. We begin with a database, abstracted as a collection of strings. From this data set we generate a query workload. The input to the optimization problem is the database and the workload. The output is a set of multigrams (substrings) which can be used as keys to records which satisfy the query workload. The multigrams can then be integrated with the data structure (like B+ trees) to provide indexing support for the queries. We provide a deterministic and a randomized approximation algorithm (with provable guarantees) to solve the optimization problem. Extensive experiments on synthetic data sets demonstrate that our approach is accurate and efficient. We also present a case study on PROSITE patterns - which are complex regular expression signatures for classes of proteins. Again, we are able to demonstrate the utility of our indexing approach in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Thus, perhaps for the first time, there is a robust and practical indexing mechanism for an important class of database queries.
  @cite_28: A new algorithm is presented for constructing auxiliary digital search trees to aid in exact-match substring searching. This algorithm has the same asymptotic running time bound as previously published algorithms, but is more economical in space. Some implementation considerations are discussed, and new work on the modification of these search trees in response to incremental changes in the strings they index (the update problem) is presented.
  @cite_21: An on-line algorithm is presented for constructing the suffix tree for a given string in time linear in the length of the string. The new algorithm has the desirable property of processing the string symbol by symbol from left to right. It always has the suffix tree for the scanned part of the string ready. The method is developed as a linear-time version of a very simple algorithm for (quadratic size) suffixtries. Regardless of its quadratic worst case this latter algorithm can be a good practical method when the string is not too long. Another variation of this method is shown to give, in a natural way, the well-known algorithms for constructing suffix automata (DAWGs).
  @cite_20: In 1970, Knuth, Pratt, and Morris [1] showed how to do basic pattern matching in linear time. Related problems, such as those discussed in [4], have previously been solved by efficient but sub-optimal algorithms. In this paper, we introduce an interesting data structure called a bi-tree. A linear time algorithm for obtaining a compacted version of a bi-tree associated with a given string is presented. With this construction as the basic tool, we indicate how to solve several pattern matching problems, including some from [4] in linear time.
summary: In order to reduce the number of node while sustaining trie's performance, Weiner @cite_20 transformed Trie to the first suffix tree structure, that the index is built by processing the database string from right to left which takes @math time. Later, Ukkonen @cite_21 developed a left-to-right built algorithm that maintains a suffix tree which takes @math time. In later research, this suffix tree was later augmented with suffix link @cite_28 to form a directed acyclic word graph which leads to an algorithm for the construction of the automata.