In the process of getting from one place to another, I needed to concoct a binary search algorithm for the 65C816 running in native mode. The job was to look up display control "mnemonics" (actually parameterless macros) embedded in text strings and then send an escape sequence to the display device to produce the desired result. I chose the binary search because quite a few of these mnemonics could be used, making rapid performance essential.

Anyhow, I subsequently generalized my code so that it can be used to search through an ordered list of character strings of varying lengths, e.g, a list of names, using a 16 bit pointer array to index the strings. All working storage is on the stack. Code is attached, and has been submitted to Mike for inclusion in the code library. There's plenty of commentary so you can see what's going on.

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I do not know if the mentionned algorithm could be applied in this context but there is a 6502 Assembly sample code at the URL http://www.txbobsc.com/aal/1985/aal8506.html that describes how a "Boyers Moore Morris" search algorithm could be implemented (looking up occurences of a single string pattern in a large text body). I understand that what you are looking for is to extract multiple patterns as soon as possible from a character stream.

HTHATS,
Benoît

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!