Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for encoding ranges in a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). The method includes determining first positive ranges and first negative ranges corresponding to a first encoding range to be encoded in the TCAM. The first encoding range is in association with a first action. The first positive ranges include the first encoding range. The first negative ranges exclude the first encoding range. At least a first positive range and a first negative range are overlapping. Further, the method includes encoding the first positive ranges in first TCAM entries, and encoding the first negative ranges in second TCAM entries. At least one of the second TCAM entries has a higher priority than one of the first TCAM entries. Then, the method includes associating the first TCAM entries to the first action, and associating the second TCAM entries to a reject action.