The invention relates to a string retrieval technique using a bit to correspond to a plurality of character elements and uses n bits to correspond to all character elements. All character elements are divided into n groups, and n bits of one data which are all 0 and noted as W are used for marking the character element information of string groups. If a character element P1 of string S belongs to the n group, the n bit of W is marked as 1, and similarly, W is marked according to the groups of other character elements P2, P3, P3, and the like of S to finish marking W of all character elements. Information recording S is called a bit value of S and the mode is called 1 marking. According to logic algebra principle, n bits of one data which are all 1 and noted as W can also be used for marking the character element information forming the strings. If one character element P of S belongs to the n group, the corresponding n bit of the data W is marked as 0, and the mode is called 0 marking. Whether Sb does not include, includes or may include all character elements of the retrieval key word Sb can be judged by comparing bit value Wa of Sa, Wa and bit value Wb of Sb, and Wb of Sb. For example, bit implication calculation is carried out on Wa and Wb. If all bits have implication relation, Sb includes or may include all character elements of Sa. If necessary, such result can be got by a bit-by-bit character comparison method. Bit marking can be used for normal retrieval, as well as for reverse retrieval. If bit n used for marking is over two times of the average length m of the string, combination of bits corresponding to a group of character elements can be used for marking to improve screening efficiency, and the method is called multi-bit marking. For multi-bit marking, bit-by-bit character comparing method can also be used for finally judging whether the Sb includes Sa.