12. An apparatus for determining whether an input string of characters matches a regular expression comprising a number of sub-expressions, comprising: means for storing a record of which sub-expressions match the input string; and means for implementing an unbounded sub-expression without utilizing resources of a deterministic finite state automaton (DFA) engine or a non-deterministic finite state automaton (NFA) engine and for identifying one or more programs responsible for processing a sub-expression that matches the input string, and wherein the means for storing is configured to discard one or more records upon satisfaction of a predetermined condition and wherein the means for implementing the unbounded sub-expression is implemented by at least one processor-based computing device.
12. An apparatus for determining whether an input string of characters matches a regular expression comprising a number of sub-expressions, comprising: means for storing a record of which sub-expressions match the input string; and means for implementing an unbounded sub-expression without utilizing resources of a deterministic finite state automaton (DFA) engine or a non-deterministic finite state automaton (NFA) engine and for identifying one or more programs responsible for processing a sub-expression that matches the input string, and wherein the means for storing is configured to discard one or more records upon satisfaction of a predetermined condition and wherein the means for implementing the unbounded sub-expression is implemented by at least one processor-based computing device. 17. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the means for storing is configured to discard, upon satisfaction of the predetermined condition, one record associated with a sub-expression that was matched at an offset which is further from a current offset being examined in the input string than any other sub-expression.