High performance pattern matching

An apparatus comprising:

• a first memory configured to store a plurality of entries, wherein the entries comprise portions of a plurality of patterns, wherein the first memory is a content-addressable memory (CAM), and wherein a first pattern of the plurality of patterns is longer than a single one of the plurality of entries of the first memory;
• a second memory, separate from the first memory, configured to store a plurality of shift values, each of the plurality of shift values corresponding to a respective one of the entries of the first memory;
• and
• a controller configured to
• generate a first key based on a received string,
• apply the first key to the first memory to select one of the entries of the first memory,
• in response to the selected one of the entries of the first memory, retrieve the corresponding shift value from the second memory,
• in response to the retrieved shift value being equal to a predetermined value, identify an initial match, and
• in response to the initial match corresponding to the first pattern (i) apply at least one adjacent key based on the received string to the first memory, and (ii) declare a complete match when each of the shift values corresponding to the at least one adjacent key is equal to the predetermined value.