10_gp.cpp

class Solution {
public:
    bool isMatch(string s, string p) {
        int m = s.length(), n = p.length(); 
        vector<vector<bool> > dp(m + 1, vector<bool> (n + 1, false));
        dp[0][0] = true;
        for (int i = 0; i <= m; i++)
            for (int j = 1; j <= n; j++)
                if (p[j - 1] == '*')
                    dp[i][j] = dp[i][j - 2] || (i > 0 && (s[i - 1] == p[j - 2] || p[j - 2] == '.') && dp[i - 1][j]);
                else dp[i][j] = i > 0 && dp[i - 1][j - 1] && (s[i - 1] == p[j - 1] || p[j - 1] == '.');
        return dp[m][n];
    }
};


This problem has a typical solution using Dynamic Programming. We define the state P[i][j] to be true if s[0..i) matches p[0..j) and false otherwise. Then the state equations are:


P[i][j] = P[i - 1][j - 1], if p[j - 1] != '*' && (s[i - 1] == p[j - 1] || p[j - 1] == '.');
P[i][j] = P[i][j - 2], if p[j - 1] == '*' and the pattern repeats for 0 times;
P[i][j] = P[i - 1][j] && (s[i - 1] == p[j - 2] || p[j - 2] == '.'), if p[j - 1] == '*' and the pattern repeats for at least 1 times.