1. A computerized method of storing information associated with a state of a state machine, the method comprising: identifying a state comprising a plurality of transition instructions, each transition instruction associated with at least one input character and a next state; determining respective next states indicated by each of the plurality of transition instructions; associating each unique next state with a selected one of a plurality of indices that are each indicative of respective unique next states, wherein one or more of the input characters are associated with a first of the plurality of indices; storing the plurality of indices so that respective indices are associated with respective input characters; and storing each of the unique transition instructions so that each of the unique transition instructions are individually addressable in the memory and are accessible at respective locations indicated by the indices.