NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD FOR EXECUTION OF QUERY TO SEARCH STRINGS OF CHARACTERS THAT MATCH PATTERN WITH A TARGET STRING UTILIZING BIT VECTOR

The method of the present invention is useful in a computer system including at least one client. The program executes a method for matching a pattern string with a target string, where either string can contain single or multi-character wild cards. The method includes the steps of preprocessing the pattern string into a prefix segment, a suffix segment, and zero or more interior segments. Next, matching the prefix segment, the suffix segment, and the interior segment(s) with the target string.