The present disclosure provides a method for executing a query in a database, the method comprising receiving the query that comprises a query key; searching a data structure of the database to determine whether the query key includes a portion that corresponds to an entry in the database, wherein the data structure comprises a first sequence of values comprising information that indicates whether the database comprises data that corresponds to a portion of a key, and a second sequence of values comprising pointers pointing to data that corresponds to the key; in response to the query key including a portion that corresponds to an entry in the database, determining a location of a value in the first sequence, wherein the value corresponds to the portion of the query key; and determining a pointer in the second sequence of values according to the location, wherein the pointer points to data that corresponds to the query key.