  Online string matching is a computational problem involving the search for
patterns or substrings in a large text dataset, with the pattern and text being
processed sequentially, without prior access to the entire text. Its relevance
stems from applications in data compression, data mining, text editing, and
bioinformatics, where rapid and efficient pattern matching is crucial. Various
solutions have been proposed over the past few decades, employing diverse
techniques. Recently, weak recognition approaches have attracted increasing
attention. This paper presents Hash Chain, a new algorithm based on a robust
weak factor recognition approach that connects adjacent factors through
hashing. Despite its O(nm) complexity, the algorithm exhibits a sublinear
behavior in practice and achieves superior performance compared to the most
effective algorithms.
