A list of elements in a set of elements is matched by means of regular expressions that define respective groups of elements in the set by approximately matching by means of the regular expressions the list of elements by locating recurrences of the regular expressions in the list of elements with a maximum number of matching errors. The matching errors correspond to insertions deriving from the superposition of groups of elements related to different regular expressions. Each time the recurrence of one regular expression is located in the list, the group of elements defined by the regular expression thus located is removed from the list, while leaving in the list those elements corresponding to errors. The approximate matching can be performed by representing each regular expression in terms of Glushkov automata. The method is applicable, e.g., for generating workflows related to interventions on equipment such as equipment included in a telecommunication network or to attacks attempted against such equipment.