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Fix empty-pattern handling in KMP search - #15545

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Miladkhoshdel wants to merge 1 commit into
TheAlgorithms:masterfrom
Miladkhoshdel:fix/kmp-empty-pattern
Open

Miladkhoshdel wants to merge 1 commit into
TheAlgorithms:masterfrom
Miladkhoshdel:fix/kmp-empty-pattern

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Describe your change

  • Add an algorithm?
  • Fix a bug or typo in an existing algorithm?
  • Add or change doctests? -- Note: Please avoid changing both code and tests in a single pull request.
  • Documentation change?

Handle empty patterns in knuth_morris_pratt() by returning 0 before preprocessing, consistent with Python's str.find().

Previously, get_failure_array("") returned [0] without raising an exception, but this did not prevent the search from accessing pattern[0]. Consequently:

  • knuth_morris_pratt("abc", "") raised IndexError.
  • knuth_morris_pratt("", "") returned -1.

The early return fixes both cases. Existing doctests remain unchanged.

Validation:

  • Existing doctests: 2 passed, 0 failed.
  • 3,937 combinations of text and pattern matched str.find(), including empty strings.
  • Ruff lint and formatting checks passed.

Checklist

  • I have read CONTRIBUTING.md.
  • This pull request is all my own work -- I have not plagiarized.
  • I know that pull requests will not be merged if they fail the automated tests.
  • This PR only changes one algorithm file. To ease review, please open separate PRs for separate algorithms.
  • All new Python files are placed inside an existing directory. — Not applicable; no new files.
  • All filenames are in all lowercase characters with no spaces or dashes.
  • All functions and variable names follow Python naming conventions.
  • All function parameters and return values are annotated with Python type hints.
  • All functions have doctests that pass the automated testing. — Existing search doctests pass locally; the unchanged get_failure_array() helper has no doctest.
  • All new algorithms include at least one URL that points to Wikipedia or another similar explanation. — Not applicable; no new algorithm.
  • If this pull request resolves one or more open issues, then the description above includes the issue number(s) with a closing keyword: "Fixes #ISSUE-NUMBER". — Not applicable; no linked issue.

@algorithms-keeper algorithms-keeper Bot added awaiting reviews This PR is ready to be reviewed enhancement This PR modified some existing files tests are failing Do not merge until tests pass labels Oct 10, 2026

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