1. A method for generating lookup tables for a regular expression recognition engine which recognizes a plurality of characters in parallel, said characters being from an alphabet, generating a DFA state machine to recognize characters of a regular expression, generating the n-closure list for each character byte position n and for each state s, generating the alphabet transition list for each entry on said n-closure list, generating a limited set of classes by mapping into the same class characters which have the same set of transitions for each byte position n and state s, generating a look up table, for each state s and byte position n, said table having one value for each member of said alphabet, said values consisting of members of said limited set of classes.