A system, apparatus, and method are provided for adding, deleting, and modifying rules in one update from the perspective of an active search process for packet classification. While a search processor searches for one or more rules that match keys generated from received packets, there is a need to add, delete, or modify rules. By organizing a plurality incremental updates for adding, deleting, or modifying rules into a batch update, several operations for incorporating the incremental updates may be made more efficient by minimizing a number of updates required.