Two closely-related data structures are the suffix tree and suffix array. From what I’ve read, the suffix tree is faster, more powerful, more flexible, and more memory-efficient than a suffix array. However, in this earlier question, one of the top answers mentioned that suffix arrays are more widely used in practice. I don’t have any experience using either of these structures, but right now it seems like I would always prefer a suffix tree over a suffix array for problems that needed the functionality they provide (fast substring checking, for example).
In what circumstances would a suffix array be preferable to a suffix tree?
(By the way, while this question is related to the one I’ve linked, I don’t think it’s an exact duplicate as I’m interested solely in a comparison of suffix arrays and suffix trees, leaving tries completely out of the picture. If you disagree, though, I would understand if this question were to be closed.)
Citing from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DGZxd-PP7U
The Kim et al paper is well written, accessible and has references to other important papers, such as the one by Abouelhoda et al.