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Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book, Special Edition
by Michael Abrash
The Coriolis Group
ISBN: 1576101746 Pub Date: 07/01/97
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Table 14.1 represents a limited and decidedly unscientific comparison of searching techniques. Nonetheless, the overall trend is clear: For all but the shortest patterns, well-implemented Boyer-Moore is generally as good as or better thansometimes much better thanbrute-force searching. (For short patterns, you might want to use REPNZ SCASB, thereby getting the best of both worlds.)
Know your data and use your smarts. Dont stop thinking just because youre implementing a big-name algorithm; you know more than it does.
Further Optimization of Boyer-Moore
We can do substantially better yet than Listing 14.3 if were willing to accept tighter limits on the data. Limiting the length of the searched-for pattern to a maximum of 255 bytes allows us to use the XLAT instruction and generally tighten the critical loop. (Be aware, however, that XLAT is a relatively expensive instruction on the 486 and Pentium.) Putting a copy of the searched-for string at the end of the search buffer as a sentinel, so that the search never fails, frees us from counting down the buffer length, and makes it easy to unroll the critical loop. Listing 14.4, which implements these optimizations, is about 60 percent faster than Listing 14.3.
LISTING 14.4 L14-4.ASM
; Searches a buffer for a specified pattern. In case of a mismatch,
; uses the value of the mismatched byte to skip across as many
; potential match locations as possible (partial Boyer-Moore).
; Returns start offset of first match searching forward, or NULL if
; no match is found.
; Requires that the pattern be no longer than 255 bytes, and that
; there be a match for the pattern somewhere in the buffer (ie., a
; copy of the pattern should be placed as a sentinel at the end of
; the buffer if the pattern isnt already known to be in the buffer).
; Tested with TASM.
; C near-callable as:
; unsigned char * FindString(unsigned char * BufferPtr,
; unsigned int BufferLength, unsigned char * PatternPtr,
; unsigned int PatternLength);
parms struc
dw 2 dup(?) ;pushed BP & return address
BufferPtr dw ? ;pointer to buffer to be searched
BufferLength dw ? ;# of bytes in buffer to be searched
; (not used, actually)
PatternPtr dw ? ;pointer to pattern for which to search
; (pattern *MUST* exist in the buffer)
PatternLength dw ? ;length of pattern for which to search (must
; be <= 255)
parms ends
.model small
.code
public _FindString
_FindString proc near
cld
push bp ;preserve callers stack frame
mov bp,sp ;point to our stack frame
push si ;preserve callers register variables
push di
sub sp,256 ;allocate space for SkipTable
; Create the table of distances by which to skip ahead on mismatches
; for every possible byte value. First, initialize all skips to the
; pattern length; this is the skip distance for bytes that dont
; appear in the pattern.
mov di,ds
mov es,di ;ES=DS=SS
mov di,sp ;point to SkipBuffer
mov al,byte ptr [bp+PatternLength]
and al,al ;return an instant match if the pattern is
jz InstantMatch ; 0-length
mov ah,al
mov cx,256/2
rep stosw
mov ax,[bp+PatternLength]
dec ax ;from now on, we only need
mov [bp+PatternLength],ax ; PatternLength - 1
; Point to rightmost byte of first potential pattern match location
; in buffer.
add [bp+BufferPtr],ax
; Set the skip values for the bytes that do appear in the pattern to
; the distance from the byte location to the end of the pattern.
mov si,[bp+PatternPtr] ;point to start of pattern
and ax,ax ;are there any skips to set?
jz SetSkipDone ;no
mov di,sp ;point to SkipBuffer
sub bx,bx ;prepare for word addressing off byte value
SetSkipLoop:
mov bl,[si] ;get the next pattern byte
inc si ;advance the pattern pointer
mov [di+bx],al ;set the skip value when this byte value is
;the mismatch value in the buffer
dec ax
jnz SetSkipLoop
SetSkipDone:
mov dl,[si] ;DL=rightmost pattern byte from now on
dec si ;point to next-to-rightmost byte of pattern
mov [bp+PatternPtr],si ; from now on
; Search the buffer.
std ;for backward REPZ CMPSB
mov di,[bp+BufferPtr] ;point to the first search location
mov bx,sp ;point to SkipTable for XLAT
SearchLoop:
sub ah,ah ;used to convert AL to a word
; Skip through until theres a match for the first pattern byte.
QuickSearchLoop:
; See if we have a match at the first buffer location.
REPT 8 ;unroll loop 8 times to reduce branching
mov al,[di] ;next buffer byte
cmp dl,al ;does it match the pattern?
jz FullCompare ;yes, so keep going
xlat ;no, look up the skip value for this mismatch
add di,ax ;BufferPtr += Skip;
ENDM
jmp QuickSearchLoop
; Return a pointer to the start of the buffer (for 0-length pattern).
align 2
InstantMatch:
mov ax,[bp+BufferPtr]
jmp short Done
; Compare the pattern and the buffer location, searching from high
; memory toward low (right to left).
align 2
FullCompare:
mov [bp+BufferPtr],di ;save the current buffer location
mov cx,[bp+PatternLength] ;# of bytes yet to compare
jcxz Match ;done if there was only one character
dec di ;point to next destination byte to compare (SI
; points to next-to-rightmost source byte)
repz cmpsb ;compare the rest of the pattern
jz Match ;thats it; weve found a match
; Its a mismatch; lets see what we can learn from it.
inc di ;compensate for 1-byte overrun of REPZ CMPSB;
; point to mismatch location in buffer
; # of bytes that did match.
mov si,[bp+BufferPtr]
sub si,di
; If, based on the mismatch character, we cant even skip ahead as far
; as where we started this particular comparison, then just advance by
; 1 to the next potential match; otherwise, skip ahead from this
; comparison location by the skip distance for the mismatch character,
; less the distance covered by the partial match.
mov al,[di] ;get the value of the mismatch byte in buffer
xlat ;get the skip value for this mismatch
mov cx,1 ;assume well just advance to the next
; potential match location
sub ax,si ;is the skip far enough to be worth taking?
jna MoveAhead ;no, go with the default advance of 1
mov cx,ax ;yes, this is the distance to skip ahead from
;the last potential match location checked
MoveAhead:
; Skip ahead and perform the next comparison.
mov di,[bp+BufferPtr]
add di,cx ;BufferPtr += Skip;
mov si,[bp+PatternPtr] ;point to the next-to-rightmost
; pattern byte
jmp SearchLoop
; Return start of match in buffer (BufferPtr - (PatternLength - 1)).
align 2
Match:
mov ax,[bp+BufferPtr]
sub ax,[bp+PatternLength]
Done:
cld ;restore default direction flag
add sp,256 ;deallocate space for SkipTable
pop di ;restore callers register variables
pop si
pop bp ;restore callers stack frame
ret
_FindString endp
end
Note that Table 14.1 includes the time required to build the skip table each time FindString is called. This time could be eliminated for all but the first search when repeatedly searching for a particular pattern, by building the skip table externally and passing a pointer to it as a parameter.
Know What You Know
Here weve turned up our nose at a repeated string instruction, weve gone against the grain by comparing backward, and yet weve speeded up our code quite a bit. All this without any restrictions or special requirements (excluding Listing 14.4)and without any new information. Everything we needed was sitting there all along; we just needed to think to look at it.
As Yogi Berra might put it, You dont know what you know until you know it.
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