substringsearch
nounUK /ˈsʌbstɹɪŋ sɜːtʃ/
US /ˈsʌbstɹɪŋ sɝːtʃ/
A substring search is when a computer looks for a small piece of text inside a bigger piece of text.
The program uses a substring search to find the word 'cat' in the sentence.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. In computer science, an algorithm that finds all occurrences of a pattern string within a larger text string.
The Knuth-Morris-Pratt algorithm is a fast substring search method.
3. A function or method in a programming library that returns the position of a substring within a string.
She called the substring search function to locate the email address in the log.
4. The act of scanning a database or document for a specific sequence of characters.
A substring search across the archive revealed several matching records.