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- package Text::Soundex;
- require 5.000;
- require Exporter;
-
- @ISA = qw(Exporter);
- @EXPORT = qw(&soundex $soundex_nocode);
-
- $VERSION = '1.0';
-
- # $Id: soundex.pl,v 1.2 1994/03/24 00:30:27 mike Exp $
- #
- # Implementation of soundex algorithm as described by Knuth in volume
- # 3 of The Art of Computer Programming, with ideas stolen from Ian
- # Phillips <ian@pipex.net>.
- #
- # Mike Stok <Mike.Stok@meiko.concord.ma.us>, 2 March 1994.
- #
- # Knuth's test cases are:
- #
- # Euler, Ellery -> E460
- # Gauss, Ghosh -> G200
- # Hilbert, Heilbronn -> H416
- # Knuth, Kant -> K530
- # Lloyd, Ladd -> L300
- # Lukasiewicz, Lissajous -> L222
- #
- # $Log: soundex.pl,v $
- # Revision 1.2 1994/03/24 00:30:27 mike
- # Subtle bug (any excuse :-) spotted by Rich Pinder <rpinder@hsc.usc.edu>
- # in the way I handles leasing characters which were different but had
- # the same soundex code. This showed up comparing it with Oracle's
- # soundex output.
- #
- # Revision 1.1 1994/03/02 13:01:30 mike
- # Initial revision
- #
- #
- ##############################################################################
-
- # $soundex_nocode is used to indicate a string doesn't have a soundex
- # code, I like undef other people may want to set it to 'Z000'.
-
- $soundex_nocode = undef;
-
- sub soundex
- {
- local (@s, $f, $fc, $_) = @_;
-
- push @s, '' unless @s; # handle no args as a single empty string
-
- foreach (@s)
- {
- $_ = uc $_;
- tr/A-Z//cd;
-
- if ($_ eq '')
- {
- $_ = $soundex_nocode;
- }
- else
- {
- ($f) = /^(.)/;
- tr/AEHIOUWYBFPVCGJKQSXZDTLMNR/00000000111122222222334556/;
- ($fc) = /^(.)/;
- s/^$fc+//;
- tr///cs;
- tr/0//d;
- $_ = $f . $_ . '000';
- s/^(.{4}).*/$1/;
- }
- }
-
- wantarray ? @s : shift @s;
- }
-
- 1;
-
- __END__
-
- =head1 NAME
-
- Text::Soundex - Implementation of the Soundex Algorithm as Described by Knuth
-
- =head1 SYNOPSIS
-
- use Text::Soundex;
-
- $code = soundex $string; # get soundex code for a string
- @codes = soundex @list; # get list of codes for list of strings
-
- # set value to be returned for strings without soundex code
-
- $soundex_nocode = 'Z000';
-
- =head1 DESCRIPTION
-
- This module implements the soundex algorithm as described by Donald Knuth
- in Volume 3 of B<The Art of Computer Programming>. The algorithm is
- intended to hash words (in particular surnames) into a small space using a
- simple model which approximates the sound of the word when spoken by an English
- speaker. Each word is reduced to a four character string, the first
- character being an upper case letter and the remaining three being digits.
-
- If there is no soundex code representation for a string then the value of
- C<$soundex_nocode> is returned. This is initially set to C<undef>, but
- many people seem to prefer an I<unlikely> value like C<Z000>
- (how unlikely this is depends on the data set being dealt with.) Any value
- can be assigned to C<$soundex_nocode>.
-
- In scalar context C<soundex> returns the soundex code of its first
- argument, and in array context a list is returned in which each element is the
- soundex code for the corresponding argument passed to C<soundex> e.g.
-
- @codes = soundex qw(Mike Stok);
-
- leaves C<@codes> containing C<('M200', 'S320')>.
-
- =head1 EXAMPLES
-
- Knuth's examples of various names and the soundex codes they map to
- are listed below:
-
- Euler, Ellery -> E460
- Gauss, Ghosh -> G200
- Hilbert, Heilbronn -> H416
- Knuth, Kant -> K530
- Lloyd, Ladd -> L300
- Lukasiewicz, Lissajous -> L222
-
- so:
-
- $code = soundex 'Knuth'; # $code contains 'K530'
- @list = soundex qw(Lloyd Gauss); # @list contains 'L300', 'G200'
-
- =head1 LIMITATIONS
-
- As the soundex algorithm was originally used a B<long> time ago in the US
- it considers only the English alphabet and pronunciation.
-
- As it is mapping a large space (arbitrary length strings) onto a small
- space (single letter plus 3 digits) no inference can be made about the
- similarity of two strings which end up with the same soundex code. For
- example, both C<Hilbert> and C<Heilbronn> end up with a soundex code
- of C<H416>.
-
- =head1 AUTHOR
-
- This code was implemented by Mike Stok (C<stok@cybercom.net>) from the
- description given by Knuth. Ian Phillips (C<ian@pipex.net>) and Rich Pinder
- (C<rpinder@hsc.usc.edu>) supplied ideas and spotted mistakes.
-