History
The first computer programs to use pattern matching were text editors. At Bell Labs, Ken Thompson extended the seeking and replacing features of the QED editor to accept regular expressions. Early programming languages with pattern matching constructs include SNOBOL from 1962, SASL from 1976, NPL from 1977, and KRC from 1981. The first programming language with tree-based pattern matching features was Fred McBride's extension of LISP, in 1970.
See also: Regular expression#HistoryRead more about this topic: Pattern Matching
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