A number of non-overlapping instances of a substring occurring within a string of data elements can be determined through a method that includes partitioning and distributing the string to an ordered list of equal length segments that each have a length greater or equal to L. A substring match within a target segment of the ordered list of segments can be detected by sequentially comparing the substring with each segment of the ordered list of segments. It can be subsequently determined that the target segment contains additional data elements, and a new segment can be generated by clearing L−1 data elements following a position of the substring match in the target segment. An additional substring match can be detected by comparing the substring with the new segment.