1. A network services processor comprising: at least one processor configured to match at least one pattern in an input stream by traversing a data structure generated from one or more regular expressions; and at least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor and configured to store the generated data structure, the generated data structure including at least one node having an intelligent node structure providing information on a next node to traverse and to perform at least one task based on traversing the at least one node, enabling the at least one processor to generate and check state information at the at least one node to obviate post-processing overhead of the at least one pattern matched.