30. The method of claim 28 , further comprising: combining results from at least two of the co-processors to generate a match signal indicating whether the input string matches the regular expression.
28. A method performed by a content search system for determining whether a selected portion of an input string including a plurality of input characters matches a regular expression including an inexact pattern, comprising: receiving a microprogram embodying the inexact pattern and comprising a plurality of commands, wherein each command embodies a different portion of the inexact pattern; for each command, delegating the command to a corresponding co-processor that is dedicated to execute the command; and processing the commands in the corresponding co-processors, wherein each co-processor implements an 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.