(definition)
Definition: The beginning characters of a string. More formally a string v∈Σ* is a prefix of a string u∈Σ* if u=vu' for some string u'∈Σ*.
See also suffix.
Note: From Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, pages 11-26 and 12-21, Copyright © 1999 by CRC Press LLC. Appearing in the Dictionary of Computer Science, Engineering and Technology, Copyright © 2000 CRC Press LLC.
Author: CRC-A
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul Black.
Entry modified 17 December 2004.
HTML page formatted Wed Mar 13 12:42:46 2019.
Cite this as:
Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, CRC Press LLC, 1999, "prefix", in
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed. 17 December 2004. (accessed TODAY)
Available from: https://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/prefix.html