Empirical evaluation of LZW-Compressed Multiple Pattern Matching Algorithms

Abstract

Data compression is used to reduce the cost of storing and transmitting increasingly large datasets in various domains ranging from bioinformatics to particle physics and general purpose computing. Most of these areas require the ability to scan the datasets for patterns like DNA sequences, malicious executable code or various other string queries, an operation that is hindered by the altered form of the data. In order to speed up the matching process, several compressed pattern matching algorithms have been previously proposed. This paper presents an overview of the state of the art in multiple pattern matching of Lempel-Ziv-Welch encoded archives, together with experimental results.