(algorithm)
Definition: A multiple string matching algorithm that constructs a finite state machine from a pattern (list of keywords), then uses the machine to locate all occurrences of the keywords in a body of text.
Generalization (I am a kind of ...)
string matching.
See also Commentz-Walter works from the back, like Boyer-Moore.
Note: Construction of the machine takes time proportional to the sum of the lengths of the keywords. The machine is used to process the text string in a single pass. The number of transitions made by the machine is independent of the number of keywords.
Author: VO
Alfred V. Aho and Margaret J. Corasick, Efficient string matching: an aid to bibliographic search, CACM, 18(6):333-340, June 1975.
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul Black.
Entry modified 2 September 2014.
HTML page formatted Mon Feb 2 13:10:39 2015.
Cite this as:
Vadim Okun, "Aho-Corasick", in
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Vreda Pieterse and Paul E. Black, eds. 2 September 2014. (accessed TODAY)
Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/ahoCorasick.html