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:
“America is hard to see.
Less partial witnesses than he
In book on book have testified
They could not see it from outside....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“A word carries far—very far—deals destruction through time as the bullets go flying through space.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)