PIRL—Pattern Information Retrieval Language—design of syntax

The design of a pattern manipulation language, PIRL, is described here. PIRL can handle arbitrary, oriented patterns (i. e., subgraphs) of lists, nodes, numeric and Hollerith data on many levels of abstraction in a concise, legible manner. Patterns and lists may be inserted, retrieved, deleted, indexed, compared, named, intersected, united, and complemented. Pattern names may be referenced to a lower level of abstraction and pattern forms may be quantified. PIRL should be of considerable value in the solution of certain problems in information retrieval, linguistic analysis, scheduling simulation, and pattern recognition.