Sufunktionen

Sufunktionen, also known as suffix functions, are a concept in computer science and string processing, particularly in the field of algorithm design. They are used to efficiently solve problems related to string matching and pattern searching. The suffix function of a string is an array that, for each position in the string, provides the length of the longest proper prefix of the substring starting at that position which is also a suffix of the substring.

The suffix function is closely related to the concept of the prefix function, which is used in the Knuth-Morris-Pratt (KMP) string matching algorithm. While the prefix function provides the length of the longest proper prefix of a substring that matches a suffix of the same substring, the suffix function provides the length of the longest proper suffix of a substring that matches a prefix of the same substring.

Sufunktionen are particularly useful in algorithms that require the identification of repeated substrings or the detection of periodic structures within a string. They are used in various applications, including data compression, bioinformatics, and text processing. The computation of the suffix function can be done in linear time, making it a powerful tool for efficient string processing tasks.