An example method includes partitioning a memory element of a router into a plurality of segments having one or more rows, where at least a portion of the one or more rows is encoded with a value mask (VM) list having a plurality of values and masks. The VM list is identified by a label, and the label is mapped to a base row number and a specific number of bits corresponding to the portion encoding the VM list. Another example method includes partitioning a prefix into a plurality of blocks, indexing to a hash table using a value of a specific block, where a bucket of the hash table corresponds to a segment of a ternary content addressable memory of a router, and storing the prefix in a row of the segment.