| Fred Drake | c520b69 | 1998-01-20 04:45:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 1 | \section{Built-in Module \sectcode{soundex}} |
| Guido van Rossum | e47da0a | 1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 2 | \label{module-soundex} |
| Fred Drake | c520b69 | 1998-01-20 04:45:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 3 | \bimodindex{soundex} |
| Guido van Rossum | 3486f27 | 1996-12-12 17:02:21 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 4 | |
| 5 | \renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module soundex)} |
| 6 | The soundex algorithm takes an English word, and returns an |
| 7 | easily-computed hash of it; this hash is intended to be the same for |
| 8 | words that sound alike. This module provides an interface to the |
| 9 | soundex algorithm. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Note that the soundex algorithm is quite simple-minded, and isn't |
| 12 | perfect by any measure. Its main purpose is to help looking up names |
| Fred Drake | c520b69 | 1998-01-20 04:45:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 13 | in databases, when the name may be misspelled --- soundex hashes common |
| Guido van Rossum | 3486f27 | 1996-12-12 17:02:21 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 14 | misspellings together. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | \begin{funcdesc}{get_soundex}{string} |
| 17 | Return the soundex hash value for a word; it will always be a |
| 18 | 6-character string. \var{string} must contain the word to be hashed, |
| 19 | with no leading whitespace; the case of the word is ignored. |
| 20 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 21 | |
| 22 | \begin{funcdesc}{sound_similar}{string1, string2} |
| 23 | Compare the word in \var{string1} with the word in \var{string2}; this |
| 24 | is equivalent to |
| 25 | \code{get_soundex(\var{string1})==get_soundex(\var{string2})}. |
| 26 | \end{funcdesc} |