diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/CompiledRoute.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/CompiledRoute.php
index bd58c8a134a..d8e93f89c71 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/CompiledRoute.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/CompiledRoute.php
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ class CompiledRoute {
    */
   protected $patternOutline;
 
+  /**
+   * The number of parts in the path of this route.
+   *
+   * @var int
+   */
+  protected $numParts;
+
   /**
    * The Route object of which this object is the compiled version.
    *
@@ -45,11 +52,14 @@ class CompiledRoute {
     *   The fitness of the route.
     * @param string $fit
     *   The pattern outline for this route.
+    *  @param int $num_parts
+    *   The number of parts in the path.
     */
-  public function __construct(Route $route, $fit, $pattern_outline) {
+  public function __construct(Route $route, $fit, $pattern_outline, $num_parts) {
     $this->route = $route;
     $this->fit = $fit;
     $this->patternOutline = $pattern_outline;
+    $this->numParts = $num_parts;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -64,6 +74,19 @@ class CompiledRoute {
     return $this->fit;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns the number of parts in this route's path.
+   *
+   * The string "foo/bar/baz" has 3 parts, regardless of how many of them are
+   * placeholders.
+   *
+   * @return int
+   *   The number of parts in the path.
+   */
+  public function getNumParts() {
+    return $this->numParts;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Returns the pattern outline of this route.
    *
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/MatcherDumper.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/MatcherDumper.php
index 6c425af2800..1ca60e4df24 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/MatcherDumper.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/MatcherDumper.php
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ class MatcherDumper implements MatcherDumperInterface {
       'fit',
       'pattern',
       'pattern_outline',
+      'number_parts',
       'route',
     ));
 
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ class MatcherDumper implements MatcherDumperInterface {
         'fit' => $compiled->getFit(),
         'pattern' => $compiled->getPattern(),
         'pattern_outline' => $compiled->getPatternOutline(),
+        'number_parts' => $compiled->getNumParts(),
         'route' => serialize($route),
       );
       $insert->values($values);
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/PathMatcher.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/PathMatcher.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7f39dcf7390
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/PathMatcher.php
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Drupal\Core\Routing;
+
+use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
+
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Connection;
+
+/**
+ * Description of PathMatcher
+ *
+ * @author crell
+ */
+class PathMatcher implements InitialMatcherInterface {
+  /**
+   * The database connection from which to read route information.
+   *
+   * @var Drupal\Core\Database\Connection
+   */
+  protected $connection;
+
+  /**
+   * The name of the SQL table from which to read the routes.
+   *
+   * @var string
+   */
+  protected $tableName;
+
+  public function __construct(Connection $connection, $table = 'router') {
+    $this->connection = $connection;
+
+    $this->tableName = $table;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Matches a request against multiple routes.
+   *
+   * @param Request $request
+   *   A Request object against which to match.
+   *
+   * @return RouteCollection
+   *   A RouteCollection of matched routes.
+   */
+  public function matchRequestPartial(Request $request) {
+
+    $path = $request->getPathInfo();
+
+    $parts = array_slide(explode('/', $path), 0, MatcherDumper::MAX_PARTS);
+
+    $number_parts = count($parts);
+
+    $ancestors = $this->getCandidateOutlines($parts);
+
+    // @todo We want to allow matching more than one result because there could
+    //   be more than one result with the same path. But how do we do that and
+    //   limit by fit?
+    $routes = $this->connection
+      ->select($this->tableName, 'r')
+      ->fields('r', array('name', 'route'))
+      ->condition('pattern_outline', $ancestors, 'IN')
+      ->condition('number_parts', $number_parts)
+      ->execute()
+      ->fetchAllKeyed();
+
+    $collection = new RouteCollection();
+    foreach ($routes as $name => $route) {
+      $collection->add($name, $route);
+    }
+
+    return $collection;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns an array of path pattern outlines that could match the path parts.
+   *
+   * @param array $parts
+   *   The parts of the path for which we want candidates.
+   * @return array
+   *   An array of outlines that could match the specified path parts.
+   */
+  public function getCandidateOutlines(array $parts) {
+
+    $number_parts = count($parts);
+    $length =  $number_parts - 1;
+    $end = (1 << $number_parts) - 1;
+    $candidates = array();
+
+    $start = pow($number_parts-1, 2);
+
+    // The highest possible mask is a 1 bit for every part of the path. We will
+    // check every value down from there to generate a possible outline.
+    $masks = range($end, $start);
+
+    foreach ($masks as $i) {
+      $current = '';
+      for ($j = $length; $j >= 0; $j--) {
+        // Check the bit on the $j offset.
+        if ($i & (1 << $j)) {
+          // Bit one means the original value.
+          $current .= $parts[$length - $j];
+        }
+        else {
+          // Bit zero means means wildcard.
+          $current .= '%';
+        }
+        // Unless we are at offset 0, add a slash.
+        if ($j) {
+          $current .= '/';
+        }
+      }
+      $candidates[] = $current;
+    }
+
+    return $candidates;
+  }
+}
+
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/RouteCompiler.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/RouteCompiler.php
index 8c3b7b9ef93..c05e72590ec 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/RouteCompiler.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Routing/RouteCompiler.php
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ class RouteCompiler implements RouteCompilerInterface {
 
     $pattern_outline = $this->getPatternOutline($route->getPattern());
 
-    return new CompiledRoute($route, $fit, $pattern_outline);
+    $num_parts = count(explode('/', $pattern_outline));
+
+    return new CompiledRoute($route, $fit, $pattern_outline, $num_parts);
 
   }
 
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/MatcherDumperTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/MatcherDumperTest.php
index cb99cf0efc5..5da3befaa04 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/MatcherDumperTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/MatcherDumperTest.php
@@ -18,6 +18,14 @@ use Drupal\Core\Routing\MatcherDumper;
  * Basic tests for the UrlMatcherDumper.
  */
 class MatcherDumperTest extends UnitTestBase {
+
+  /**
+   * A collection of shared fixture data for tests.
+   *
+   * @var RoutingFixtures
+   */
+  protected $fixtures;
+
   public static function getInfo() {
     return array(
       'name' => 'Dumper tests',
@@ -26,6 +34,12 @@ class MatcherDumperTest extends UnitTestBase {
     );
   }
 
+  function __construct($test_id = NULL) {
+    parent::__construct($test_id);
+
+    $this->fixtures = new RoutingFixtures();
+  }
+
   function setUp() {
     parent::setUp();
   }
@@ -132,80 +146,13 @@ class MatcherDumperTest extends UnitTestBase {
    * Creates a test database table just for unit testing purposes.
    */
   protected function prepareTables($connection) {
-
-    $tables['test_routes'] = array(
-      'description' => 'Maps paths to various callbacks (access, page and title)',
-      'fields' => array(
-        'name' => array(
-          'description' => 'Primary Key: Machine name of this route',
-          'type' => 'varchar',
-          'length' => 255,
-          'not null' => TRUE,
-          'default' => '',
-        ),
-        'pattern' => array(
-          'description' => 'The path pattern for this URI',
-          'type' => 'varchar',
-          'length' => 255,
-          'not null' => TRUE,
-          'default' => '',
-        ),
-        'pattern_outline' => array(
-          'description' => 'The pattern',
-          'type' => 'varchar',
-          'length' => 255,
-          'not null' => TRUE,
-          'default' => '',
-        ),
-        'route_set' => array(
-          'description' => 'The route set grouping to which a route belongs.',
-          'type' => 'varchar',
-          'length' => 255,
-          'not null' => TRUE,
-          'default' => '',
-        ),
-        'access_callback' => array(
-          'description' => 'The callback which determines the access to this router path. Defaults to user_access.',
-          'type' => 'varchar',
-          'length' => 255,
-          'not null' => TRUE,
-          'default' => '',
-        ),
-        'access_arguments' => array(
-          'description' => 'A serialized array of arguments for the access callback.',
-          'type' => 'blob',
-          'not null' => FALSE,
-        ),
-        'fit' => array(
-          'description' => 'A numeric representation of how specific the path is.',
-          'type' => 'int',
-          'not null' => TRUE,
-          'default' => 0,
-        ),
-        'number_parts' => array(
-          'description' => 'Number of parts in this router path.',
-          'type' => 'int',
-          'not null' => TRUE,
-          'default' => 0,
-          'size' => 'small',
-        ),
-        'route' => array(
-          'description' => 'A serialized Route object',
-          'type' => 'text',
-        ),
-      ),
-      'indexes' => array(
-        'fit' => array('fit'),
-        'pattern_outline' => array('pattern_outline'),
-        'route_set' => array('route_set'),
-      ),
-      'primary key' => array('name'),
-    );
-
-
+    $tables = $this->fixtures->routingTableDefinition();
     $schema = $connection->schema();
-    $schema->dropTable('test_routes');
-    $schema->createTable('test_routes', $tables['test_routes']);
+
+    foreach ($tables as $name => $table) {
+      $schema->dropTable($name);
+      $schema->createTable($name, $table);
+    }
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/PathMatcherTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/PathMatcherTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2931f62a20a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/PathMatcherTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * Definition of Drupal\system\Tests\Routing\PartialMatcherTest.
+ */
+
+namespace Drupal\system\Tests\Routing;
+
+use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
+
+use Drupal\simpletest\UnitTestBase;
+use Drupal\Core\Routing\PathMatcher;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
+
+/**
+ * Basic tests for the UrlMatcherDumper.
+ */
+class PathMatcherTest extends UnitTestBase {
+
+  /**
+   * A collection of shared fixture data for tests.
+   *
+   * @var RoutingFixtures
+   */
+  protected $fixtures;
+
+  public static function getInfo() {
+    return array(
+      'name' => 'Path matcher tests',
+      'description' => 'Confirm that the path matching library is working correctly.',
+      'group' => 'Routing',
+    );
+  }
+
+  function __construct($test_id = NULL) {
+    parent::__construct($test_id);
+
+    $this->fixtures = new RoutingFixtures();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Confirms that the correct candidate outlines are generated.
+   */
+  public function testCandidateOutlines() {
+
+    $connection = Database::getConnection();
+    $matcher = new PathMatcher($connection);
+
+    $parts = array('node', '5', 'edit');
+
+    $candidates = $matcher->getCandidateOutlines($parts);
+
+    //debug($candidates);
+
+    $candidates = array_flip($candidates);
+
+    $this->assertTrue(count($candidates) == 4, t('Correct number of candidates found'));
+    $this->assertTrue(array_key_exists('node/5/edit', $candidates), t('First candidate found.'));
+    $this->assertTrue(array_key_exists('node/5/%', $candidates), t('Second candidate found.'));
+    $this->assertTrue(array_key_exists('node/%/edit', $candidates), t('Third candidate found.'));
+    $this->assertTrue(array_key_exists('node/%/%', $candidates), t('Fourth candidate found.'));
+  }
+
+
+}
+
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/RoutingFixtures.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/RoutingFixtures.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f7889afa424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Routing/RoutingFixtures.php
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Drupal\system\Tests\Routing;
+
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
+
+/**
+ * Utility methods to generate sample data, database configuration, etc.
+ */
+class RoutingFixtures {
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a standard set of routes for testing.
+   *
+   * @return \Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection
+   */
+  public function sampleRouteCollection() {
+    $collection = new RouteCollection();
+
+    $route = new Route('path/one');
+    $route->setRequirement('_method', 'GET');
+    $collection->add('route_a', $route);
+
+    $route = new Route('path/one');
+    $route->setRequirement('_method', 'PUT');
+    $collection->add('route_b', $route);
+
+    $route = new Route('path/two');
+    $route->setRequirement('_method', 'GET');
+    $collection->add('route_c', $route);
+
+    $route = new Route('path/three');
+    $collection->add('route_d', $route);
+
+    $route = new Route('path/two');
+    $route->setRequirement('_method', 'GET|HEAD');
+    $collection->add('route_e', $route);
+
+    return $collection;
+  }
+
+  public function routingTableDefinition() {
+
+    $tables['test_routes'] = array(
+      'description' => 'Maps paths to various callbacks (access, page and title)',
+      'fields' => array(
+        'name' => array(
+          'description' => 'Primary Key: Machine name of this route',
+          'type' => 'varchar',
+          'length' => 255,
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => '',
+        ),
+        'pattern' => array(
+          'description' => 'The path pattern for this URI',
+          'type' => 'varchar',
+          'length' => 255,
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => '',
+        ),
+        'pattern_outline' => array(
+          'description' => 'The pattern',
+          'type' => 'varchar',
+          'length' => 255,
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => '',
+        ),
+        'route_set' => array(
+          'description' => 'The route set grouping to which a route belongs.',
+          'type' => 'varchar',
+          'length' => 255,
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => '',
+        ),
+        'access_callback' => array(
+          'description' => 'The callback which determines the access to this router path. Defaults to user_access.',
+          'type' => 'varchar',
+          'length' => 255,
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => '',
+        ),
+        'access_arguments' => array(
+          'description' => 'A serialized array of arguments for the access callback.',
+          'type' => 'blob',
+          'not null' => FALSE,
+        ),
+        'fit' => array(
+          'description' => 'A numeric representation of how specific the path is.',
+          'type' => 'int',
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => 0,
+        ),
+        'number_parts' => array(
+          'description' => 'Number of parts in this router path.',
+          'type' => 'int',
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => 0,
+          'size' => 'small',
+        ),
+        'route' => array(
+          'description' => 'A serialized Route object',
+          'type' => 'text',
+        ),
+      ),
+      'indexes' => array(
+        'fit' => array('fit'),
+        'pattern_outline' => array('pattern_outline'),
+        'route_set' => array('route_set'),
+      ),
+      'primary key' => array('name'),
+    );
+
+    return $tables;
+  }
+}