Naive Pattern Searching

Naïve pattern searching is the simplest method among other pattern searching algorithms. It checks for all character of the main string to the pattern. This algorithm is helpful for smaller texts. It does not need any pre-processing phases. We can find substring by checking once for the string. It also does not occupy extra space to perform the operation.

The time complexity of Naïve Pattern Search method is O(m*n). The m is the size of pattern and n is the size of the main string.

Input and Output

Input:
Main String: “ABAAABCDBBABCDDEBCABC”, pattern: “ABC”
Output:
Pattern found at position: 4
Pattern found at position: 10
Pattern found at position: 18

Algorithm

naivePatternSearch(pattern, text)

Input − The text and the pattern

Output − location, where patterns are present in the text

Begin
   patLen := pattern Size
   strLen := string size

   for i := 0 to (strLen - patLen), do
      for j := 0 to patLen, do
         if text[i+j] ≠ pattern[j], then
            break the loop
      done

      if j == patLen, then
         display the position i, as there pattern found
   done
End

Example

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

void naivePatternSearch(string mainString, string pattern, int array[], int *index) {
   int patLen = pattern.size();
   int strLen = mainString.size();

   for(int i = 0; i<=(strLen - patLen); i++) {
      int j;
      for(j = 0; j<patLen; j++) {      //check for each character of pattern if it is matched
         if(mainString[i+j] != pattern[j])
            break;
      }

      if(j == patLen) {     //the pattern is found
         (*index)++;
         array[(*index)] = i;
      }
   }
}

int main() {
   string mainString = "ABAAABCDBBABCDDEBCABC";
   string pattern = "ABC";
   int locArray[mainString.size()];
   int index = -1;
   naivePatternSearch(mainString, pattern, locArray, &index);

   for(int i = 0; i <= index; i++) {
      cout << "Pattern found at position: " << locArray[i]<<endl;
   }
}

Output

Pattern found at position: 4
Pattern found at position: 10
Pattern found at position: 18