Efficient Pattern Matching on Binary Strings

Abstract: The binary string matching problem consists in finding all the occurrences of a pattern in a text where both strings are built on a binary alphabet. This is an interesting problem in computer science, since binary data are omnipresent in telecom and computer network applications. Moreover the problem finds applications also in the field of image processing and in pattern matching on compressed texts. Recently it has been shown that adaptations of classical exact string matching algorithms are not very efficient on binary data. In this paper we present two efficient algorithms for the problem adapted to completely avoid any reference to bits allowing to process pattern and text byte by byte. Experimental results show that the new algorithms outperform existing solutions in most cases.