The embodiment of the invention discloses a rule matching method and a device which are used for improving rule matching efficiency. The method comprises: receiving a character in a character string and the position information of the character in the character string; according to the character and the position information, matching in a state machine, wherein the jumping condition of each statein the state machine comprises the character and the position information; and according to matching, outputting a matching result. The embodiment of the invention can reduce the output of an ineffective matching result and improve the rule matching efficiency.