Suffix link

In a suffix automaton, a suffix link from state $v$ leads to the state containing the longest suffix of its longest represented string that lies in a different end-position equivalence class. If $L(v)$ is the maximum represented length, state $v$ represents one string at each length from $L(\mathrm{link}(v))+1$ through $L(v)$. Following links strictly decreases length and eventually reaches the initial state.^[ref]

For ababa, the state representing ababa also represents baba; its link leads to the state containing aba. This skips a suffix already in the current class. The links form a rooted tree useful for propagating occurrence counts from longer matches to shorter suffixes.