The Boyer-Moore algorithm is a highly efficient string-searching algorithm that is used to find a substring (the pattern) within a larger string (the text). It operates by utilizing two heuristics: the bad character rule and the good suffix rule. The bad character rule allows the algorithm to skip sections of the text when a mismatch occurs, by shifting the pattern to align with the last occurrence of the mismatched character in the pattern. The good suffix rule enhances this by shifting the pattern based on the matched suffix, allowing it to skip even more text.
The algorithm is particularly effective for large texts and patterns, with an average-case time complexity of , where is the length of the text and is the length of the pattern. This makes Boyer-Moore significantly faster than simpler algorithms like the naive search, especially when the alphabet size is large or the pattern is relatively short compared to the text. Overall, its combination of heuristics allows for substantial reductions in the number of character comparisons needed during the search process.
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