Re: Compare string with a relevancy factor (VB 6.0 or VB .Net)

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From: Gerald Hernandez (Cablewizard_at_spam_remove@Yahoo.com)
Date: 01/21/05 

Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 14:11:18 -0700

You might want to search this newsgroup and the google for the following
terms:
SoundEX
Metaphone / Double MetaPhone
Levenshtein - Edit String Distance

Now, before you go thinking you've found something magical please read the
comparisons and caveat links as well. The above mentioned methods were
originally born out of need to match surnames. They are applied, or
mis-applied to many other applications, with varying degrees of success.
SoundEX being the most simple, but also the least useful. Unless you really
want all streets that start with the same letter.

Also, I have extensive experience in address matching, which as it turns out
is much more complicated than it might seem. Some things you need to
consider with addresses, which you probably already know, are that they are
composed of a number of elements. Each element needs to be considered and
weighted. Things like pre and post directionals and street type are
important. I have quite an extensive set of objects used by many utility
companies as parts of much larger applications, and have considered offering
the component parts and/or a whole framework as a product. I'm not here to
peddle my wares, but if you need consulting please feel free to contact me.
Otherwise, continue posting questions here and I will provide whatever help
I can for free.

Gerald

"Jacques Tardif" <jtardif@adt.ca> wrote in message
news:wrbId.1460$P_3.9104@newscontent-01.sprint.ca...
> 1) Case does not matter
> 2) Space and special character don't count
> 3) Position does count
>
> The application is to retrieve customers based on an address typed in by
the
> user. Addresses in the database are not all in a valid format.
> So, the only good way is to bring all addresses based on a postal code and
> scan for any relevancy. The postal code is valid in our database.
>
>
> "Bob Butler" <tiredofit@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:eLQcui9$EHA.2568@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > "Jacques Tardif" <jtardif@adt.ca> wrote in message
> > news:gV9Id.1451$P_3.9108@newscontent-01.sprint.ca
> > > I would like to compare 2 strings and get back a relevancy factor. Ex
> > > :
> > >
> > > String 1 String 2 Relevancy
> > > ===== ===== ========
> > > ABCD ABCD 100%
> > > ABCD ABCC 90% (or whatever...)
> >
> > Does case matter?
> > Do whitespace and/or other special characters count?
> > Does position matter? (e.g. is ABCD vs CCBA still 75% because 3 out of
4
> > can be matched up or is it 0% because no positions are identical?)
> >
> > --
> > Reply to the group so all can participate
> > VB.Net: "Fool me once..."
> >
>
>

Relevant Pages

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