System and method for determining the start of a match of a regular expression

1. A system for determining the start of one or more patterns of characters in an input character string, the patterns being defined by at least one character of the input character string, the input character string being provided to the system, the system operating in a series of states, the series of states including at least one start state and at least one terminal state, the system comprising:

finite state automaton, the finite state automaton being responsive to each character of the input character string and selectively transitioning to a next state in response to each character;

an automaton memory having stored therein a state transition table and a special state table;

the special state table including special state information;

the special state information including start state entries and terminal state entries, the special state information having at least a first code to indicate whether the special state information is a start state entry or a terminal state entry, each start state entry including a start state register select code, each terminal state entry including a second code identifying the one or more particular patterns, and a start state register number code; and

a plurality of start state registers, each register of the plurality of start state registers being identifiable by the start state register number code and having stored therein information relating to the location in the input character string of the start of a particular pattern of the one or more patterns;

the state transition table including current state information corresponding to the current state of the finite state automaton, character information corresponding to the characters in the input character string, next state information relating to the next state to which the finite state automaton will transition in response to the current state information and the character information, and special state table information corresponding to the next state information and indicating whether the system should perform a lookup in the special state table.

2. A system as defined by claim 1 , which further comprises:

a compiler cooperatively linked to the automaton memory, the compiler generating the special state information in the special state table and the current state information, character information, next state information and special state table information in the state transition table.

3. A system as defined by claim 1 , wherein the information stored in each register of the plurality of start state registers is offset information which corresponds to the position of a character in the input character string which resulted in the next state being a start state.

4. A method for determining the start of one or more patterns of characters in an input character string, the patterns being defined by at least one character of the input character string, the input character string being provided to a system having a finite state automaton, an automaton memory operatively linked to the finite state automaton, and a plurality of start state registers operatively linked to the automaton memory and finite state automaton, the system operating in a series of states, the series of states including at least one start state and at least one terminal state, the method comprising the steps of:

providing each character of the input character string to the system such that the finite state automaton is responsive thereto and selectively transitions from a current state to a next state in response to each character;

storing in the automaton memory a state transition table and a special state table, the special state table including special state information;

the special state information including start state entries and terminal state entries, the special state information having at least a first code to indicate whether the special state information is a start state entry or a terminal state entry, the state transition table including current state information corresponding to the current state of the finite state automaton, character information corresponding to the characters in the input character string, next state information relating to the next state to which the finite state automaton will transition in response to the current state information and the character information, and special state table information corresponding to the next state information and indicating whether the system should perform a lookup in the special state table;

storing in each register of the plurality of start state registers information relating to the location in the input character string of the start of a particular pattern of the one or more patterns;

determining from the state transition table whether the next state is a special state in response to an input character of the input character string;

performing a lookup in the special state table if the next state is determined to be a special state;

reading special state information in the special state table in response to the lookup performed in the special state table;

determining from the special state information whether the next state is at least one of a start state and a terminal state;

loading current offset information into the start state register if the next state is a start state, the current offset information corresponding to the position of a character in the input character string which resulted in the next state being a start state;

and retrieving from the special state table the special state information, and retrieving the current offset information from at least one register of the plurality of start state registers when the next state is determined to be a terminal state.

5. A method for determining the start of one or more patterns of characters in an input character string, the patterns being defined by at least one character of the input character string, the input character string being provided to a system having a finite state automaton, an automaton memory operatively linked to the finite state automaton, and a plurality of start state registers operatively linked to the automaton memory and finite state automaton, the system operating in a series of states, the series of states including at least one start state and at least one terminal state, the method comprising the steps of:

providing each character of the input character string to the system such that the finite state automaton is responsive thereto and selectively transitions from a current state to a next state in response to each character;

storing in the automaton memory a state transition table and a special state table, the special state table including special state information, the special state information including start state entries and terminal state entries, the special state information having at least a first code to indicate whether the special state information is a start state entry or a terminal state entry, each start state entry including a start state register select code, each terminal state entry including a second code identifying the one or more patterns, and a start state register number code, the state transition table including current state information corresponding to the current state of the finite state automaton, character information corresponding to the characters in the input character string, next state information relating to the next state to which the finite state automaton will transition in response to the current state information and the character information, and special state table information corresponding to the next state information and indicating whether the system should perform a lookup in the special state table;

storing in each register of the plurality of start state registers information relating to the location in the input character string of the start of a particular pattern of the one or more patterns;

determining from the state transition table whether the next state is a special state in response to an input character of the input character string;

performing a lookup in the special state table if the next state is determined to be a special state;

reading at least one of the start state entries and the terminal state entries in response to the lookup performed in the special state table;

determining from the at least one of the start state entries and the terminal state entries whether the next state is at least one of a start state and a terminal state;

loading current offset information into the start state register if the next state is a start state, the current offset information corresponding to the position of a character in the input character string which resulted in the next state being a start state; and

retrieving from the special state table the terminal state entry, and retrieving the current offset information from at least one register of the plurality of start state registers when the next state is determined to be a terminal state.