Sturmian and Episturmian Words

Abstract

This survey paper contains a description of some recent results concerning Sturmian and episturmian words, with particular emphasis on central words. We list fourteen characterizations of central words. We give the characterizations of Sturmian and episturmian words by lexicographic ordering, we show how the Burrows-Wheeler transform behaves on Sturmian words. We mention results on balanced episturmian words. We give a description of the compact suffix automaton of central Sturmian words.