Order preserving run length encoding with compression codeword extraction for comparisons

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for comparing character strings that are compressed through run length encoding, said computer readable program code means comprising:
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect a comparison of the compressed character strings to identify a point of miscomparison;
• and
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect an ordering of the compressed character strings based on characters at the point of miscomparison, characters at the two character positions prior to said point of miscomparison and characters at the two character positions after said point of miscomparison.

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method steps for comparing character strings that are compressed through run length encoding, wherein a string of identical characters is replaced with a compressed character, a compression identifying character and a number identifying the number of characters that are replaced, said method steps comprising:

• (a) comparing the compressed character strings to identify a point of miscomparison;
• (b) identifying for each character string whether a character at said point of miscomparison is part of a run-length encoded codeword;
• (c) identifying the compressed character for each run length encoded codeword;
• and
• (d) ordering the compressed character strings based on the compressed character value.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing a comparison of character strings that are compressed through run length encoding, wherein a string of identical characters is replaced with a compressed character, a compression identifying character and a number identifying the number of characters that are replaced, said computer readable program code means comprising:
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect a comparison of the compressed character strings to identify a point of miscomparison;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect an identification for each character string whether a character at said point of miscomparison is part of a run-length encoded codeword;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect an identification of the compressed character for each run length encoded codeword;
• and
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect an ordering of the compressed character strings based on the compressed character value.