String algorithms are a traditional area of study in computer science. In recent years their importance has grown dramatically with the huge increase of electronically stored text and of molecular sequence data (DNA or protein sequences) produced by various genome projects. This book is a general text on computer algorithms for string processing. In addition to pure computer science, the book contains extensive discussions on biological problems that are cast as string problems, and on methods developed to solve them. It emphasises the fundamental ideas and techniques central to today's applications. New approaches to this complex material simplify methods that up to now have been for the specialist alone. With over 400 exercises to reinforce the material and develop additional topics, the book is suitable as a text for graduate or advanced undergraduate students in computer science, computational biology, or bio-informatics. Its discussion of current algorithms and techniques also makes it a reference for professionals.