It was asked on a Google discussion group: "Why don't Google searches
support Regular Expressions?"

I was trying to imagine what kind of index structure or parallel processing
scheme it might take to support RegEx searches on gazillions of gigabytes of
data. An example search might be: fr*d(0|o)*n

I would think the indexes might well have to be larger than the data indexed
if speed is required.

Are there any *huge* databases that support speedy RegEx searches?
Although, I think Google's database goes way beyond *huge*!

- David Harper

"David Harper" <dharperhoutx (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

Searching for .* should produce instant results. No need to wait, just
start delivering everything. ;-)

Roy

On Nov 2, 10:26 am, "David Harper" <dharperho... (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote:
but they already do so much more than REGEX could provide for you.

And thihnk about the target audience. It is not programmers, but non-
programmer customers. Try explaining regex to your grandmother.

ed