Regular expression decomposition and evaluation

Abstract

Regular expression ('regex') decomposition and evaluation is disclosed. In an aspect of the disclosure, a literal component and a pattern component in a regex are determined. A plurality of evaluation processes is determined based on the regex, including a first evaluation process configured to identify text that matches the literal component and the pattern component. The evaluation processes are executed with respect to a sample of data to determine performance characteristics including a performance characteristic respective to each evaluation process. An evaluation process of the evaluation processes is selected based on the determined performance characteristics. The selected evaluation process is executed with respect to further data to retrieve results that satisfy the selected evaluation process. In another aspect, the pattern component is decomposed into subcomponents. In another aspect, the evaluation processes include an evaluation process that specifies a process to provide the regex to a regex engine for execution thereof.