System and method for searching extended regular expressions

• US 20020194172A1
• Filed: 12/29/2000
• Published: 12/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schreiber, Robert Walter
• Granted Patent: US 6,963,876 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2448 for particular applications; for extensibility, e.g. user defined types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24553 of query operations
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system and method for searching extended regular expressions. The system enables users to submit searches for extended regular expressions. The searches may be arbitrarily complex. Searches may also be performed for Unicode and ASCII strings. The system may parse the extended regular expression to be searched and search one or more object stores for extended regular expressions satisfying the search. The extended regular expressions located may then be presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method for searching extended regular expressions, comprising the steps of:

receiving a search request for at least one extended regular expression;

parsing the at least one extended regular expression;

searching at least one object store for the at least one extended regular expression; and

presenting the at least one extended regular expression.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one extended regular expression is arbitrarily complex.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one extended regular expression comprises an ASCII string.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the search request further comprises a Unicode string.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the Unicode string comprises a SQL statement.

6. A system for searching extended regular expressions, comprising:

a receiving module that receives a search request for at least one extended regular expression;

a parsing module that parses the at least one extended regular expression;

a searching module that searches at least one object store for the at least one extended regular expression; and

a presenting module that presents the at least one extended regular expression.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one extended regular expression is arbitrarily complex.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one extended regular expression comprises an ASCII string.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the search request further comprises a Unicode string.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the Unicode string comprises a SQL statement.

11. A system for searching extended regular expressions, comprising:

receiving means for receiving a search request for at least one extended regular expression;

parsing means for parsing the at least one extended regular expression;

searching means for searching at least one object store for the at least one extended regular expression; and

presenting means for presenting the at least one extended regular expression.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one extended regular expression is arbitrarily complex.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one extended regular expression comprises an ASCII string.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the search request further comprises a Unicode string.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the Unicode string comprises a SQL statement.

17. The medium of claim 16, wherein the at least one extended regular expression is arbitrarily complex.

18. The medium of claim 16, wherein the at least one extended regular expression comprises an ASCII string.

19. The medium of claim 16, wherein the search request further comprises a Unicode string.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the Unicode string comprises a SQL statement.

16. A processor readable medium comprising processor readable code for searching extended regular expressions, comprising:

receiving code that causes a processor to receive a search request for at least one extended regular expression;

parsing code that causes a processor to parse the at least one extended regular expression;

searching code that causes a processor to search at least one object store for the at least one extended regular expression; and

presenting code that causes a processor to present the at least one extended regular expression.