What is Suffix Tree?

Suffix Tree is a compressed trie of all the suffixes of a given string. It is a more complex data structure compared to the suffix array but provides more powerful and flexible ways to handle string processing tasks.

Characteristics of Suffix Tree:

• Suffix Tree represents all suffixes of the string in a tree form.
• Suffix Tree shares common prefixes, there offers compact representation.
• Suffix Tree allows for efficient pattern matching, finding longest common substring, etc.

Applications of Suffix Tree:

• Efficiently finding occurrences of a substring.
• Finding the longest repeated substring in linear time.

Suffix Array and Suffix Tree are data structures used for the efficient string processing and pattern matching. They provide the different ways to the store and query substrings each with the unique characteristics and use cases. Understanding the differences between them helps in the choosing the right data structure for the specific applications.