Fixed kleene star behavior, which used to behave like a '+'

main.go

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 const CONCAT rune = '~'
-const UNION int = 0
 
 func isOperator(c rune) bool {
 	if c == '*' || c == '|' || c == CONCAT {
@@ -126,15 +125,19 @@ func thompson(re string) *State {
 			}
 			s1.output = s2.output
 			nfa = append(nfa, s1)
-		case '*':
+		case '*': // Create a 0-state, concat the popped state after it, concat the 0-state after the popped state
 			s1 := pop(&nfa)
+			stateToAdd := &State{}
+			stateToAdd.transitions = make(map[int][]*State)
+			stateToAdd.content = EPSILON
+			stateToAdd.isEmpty = true
+			stateToAdd.isKleene = true
+			stateToAdd.output = append(stateToAdd.output, stateToAdd)
 			for i := range s1.output {
-				s1.output[i].transitions[s1.content] = append(s1.output[i].transitions[s1.content], s1)
+				s1.output[i].transitions[stateToAdd.content] = append(s1.output[i].transitions[stateToAdd.content], stateToAdd)
 			}
-			// Reset output to s1 (in case s1 was a union operator state, which has multiple outputs)
+			stateToAdd.transitions[s1.content] = append(stateToAdd.transitions[s1.content], s1)
-			s1.output = nil
+			nfa = append(nfa, stateToAdd)
-			s1.output = append(s1.output, s1)
-			nfa = append(nfa, s1)
 		case '|':
 			s1 := pop(&nfa)
 			s2 := pop(&nfa)
@@ -143,7 +146,7 @@ func thompson(re string) *State {
 			s3.output = append(s3.output, s1, s2)
 			s3.transitions[s1.content] = append(s3.transitions[s1.content], s1)
 			s3.transitions[s2.content] = append(s3.transitions[s2.content], s2)
-			s3.content = UNION
+			s3.content = EPSILON
 			s3.isEmpty = true
 
 			nfa = append(nfa, &s3)

matching.go

@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ func match(start *State, str string) (startIdx int, endIdx int, matched bool) {
 	i := 0                          // Index in string
 	// Increment until we hit a character matching the start state
 	if start.isEmpty == false {
-		for int(str[i]) != start.content {
+		for i < len(str) && int(str[i]) != start.content {
 			i++
 		}
+		i++ // Advance to next character (if we aren't at a 0-state, which doesn't match anything), so that we can check for transitions. If we advance at a 0-state, we will never get a chance to match the first character
 	}
 	currentStates = append(currentStates, start)
 	startIdx = i
-	i++ // Advance to next character so that we can check for transitions
+
 	// Main loop
 	for i < len(str) {
 		// If there are any 0-transitions, take those
@@ -45,7 +46,15 @@ func match(start *State, str string) (startIdx int, endIdx int, matched bool) {
 		i++
 	}
 
-	// End-of-string reached. Check if any of our states is in the end position.
+	// End-of-string reached. Go to any 0-states. Then check if any of our states are in the end position.
+	for _, state := range currentStates {
+		if len(state.transitions[EPSILON]) > 0 {
+			tempStates = append(tempStates, state.transitions[EPSILON]...)
+		}
+	}
+	copy(currentStates, tempStates)
+	tempStates = nil
+
 	for _, state := range currentStates {
 		if state.isLast {
 			endIdx = i

nfa.go

@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@ const EPSILON int = 0
 
 type State struct {
 	content     int              // Contents of current state
-	isEmpty     bool             // If it is empty - Union operator states will be empty
+	isEmpty     bool             // If it is empty - Union operator and Kleene star states will be empty
 	isLast      bool             // If it is the last state (acept state)
 	output      []*State         // The outputs of the current state ie. the 'outward arrows'. A union operator state will have more than one of these.
 	transitions map[int][]*State // Transitions to different states (maps a character (int representation) to a _list of states. This is useful if one character can lead multiple states eg. ab|aa)
+	isKleene    bool             // Identifies whether current node is a 0-state representing Kleene star
 }
 
 type NFA struct {
@@ -25,6 +26,15 @@ func verifyLastStatesHelper(state *State, visited map[*State]bool) {
 		state.isLast = true
 		return
 	}
+
+	if len(state.transitions) == 1 && state.isKleene { // A State representing a Kleene Star has a transition going out, which loops back to it. If that is the only transition (and it contains only one state), then it must be a last-state
+		for _, v := range state.transitions { // Should only loop once
+			if len(v) == 1 {
+				state.isLast = true
+				return
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	if visited[state] == true {
 		return
 	}