Sampled Longest Common Prefix Array

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new compressed LCP array called the sampled LCP array, which improves time and space efficiency when used with compressed suffix arrays, and details how to construct it directly from a CSA.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel sampled LCP array that enhances efficiency and provides a method to build it directly from compressed suffix arrays.

Findings

Sampled LCP array offers better time/space trade-offs.

Construction method from CSA is efficient.

Improves string processing in compressed data structures.

Abstract

When augmented with the longest common prefix (LCP) array and some other structures, the suffix array can solve many string processing problems in optimal time and space. A compressed representation of the LCP array is also one of the main building blocks in many compressed suffix tree proposals. In this paper, we describe a new compressed LCP representation: the sampled LCP array. We show that when used with a compressed suffix array (CSA), the sampled LCP array often offers better time/space trade-offs than the existing alternatives. We also show how to construct the compressed representations of the LCP array directly from a CSA.