A
discrete manner of defining a computational
entity, usually a
regular expression.
The
formal definition is in the form of a 5-
tuple A=(Q,
Sigma,
delta,q
0,F), where Q is the
set of states in A,
Sigma is the
alphabet of A,
delta is the transition
function: q X a -> q
1, where q, q
1 are an
element of Q and a is an
element of
Sigma, q
0 is the start state and F is the set of accept states.
A will accept a string on a
regular language, if the string terminates on one of the accept states of A.
See:
PERL and
regular expression