16. A search engine configured to determine whether a selected portion of an input string including a plurality of input characters matches a regular expression including an inexact pattern, the search engine comprising: a microcontroller having an input to receive a microprogram embodying the inexact pattern and comprising a plurality of commands, wherein each command embodies a different portion of the inexact pattern; and a plurality of co-processors coupled to the microcontroller, wherein each co-processor is dedicated to execute a corresponding one of the commands to implement its associated portion of an inexact pattern match operation between the input string and the inexact pattern, wherein the inexact pattern comprises a specified range of instances of selected characters each belonging to a specified set of characters.
17. The search engine of claim 16 , wherein the microcontroller delegates each of the commands to a designated one of the plurality of co-processors.