A partial word is a string that may contain a number of "do not know" or "do not care" symbols i.e. placeholders in the string where the symbol value is not known or not specified. More formally, a partial word is a partial function where is some finite alphabet. If u(k) is not defined for some then the unknown element at place k in the string is called a "hole". In regular expressions (following the POSIX standard) a hole is represented by the metacharacter ".". For example, aab.ab.b is a partial word of length 8 over the alphabet A ={a,b} in which the fourth and seventh characters are holes.
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Famous quotes containing the words partial and/or word:
“We were soon in the smooth water of the Quakish Lake,... and we had our first, but a partial view of Ktaadn, its summit veiled in clouds, like a dark isthmus in that quarter, connecting the heavens with the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)