1. A network-equipment-element-implemented method for processing data packets, the method comprising: (a) the network-equipment element receiving a data packet; (b) the network-equipment element determining at least one characteristic about the data packet; (c) the network-equipment element accessing a braided trie stored in memory based on the at least one characteristic to determine a processing mode for the data packet; and (d) the network-equipment element processing the data packet based on the determined processing mode.