A string matching method is provided for searching a text received in a string matching system for any of a predetermined set of patterns, each of the text and the patterns including a string of characters or symbols. The method includes generating a number of pattern folds for each of the patterns and generating a number of text folds for the text, both the number of pattern folds for each of the patterns and the number of text folds being equal to a folding width, generating a set of pattern folds from the pattern folds of all the patterns, selecting one of the text folds, performing a first search on the selected text fold for matches of any pattern folds, and if a pattern fold is found, performing a second search to determine if the text contains a match of any of the predetermined set of pattern.
