Date:         Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:57:44 -0500
Reply-To:     Warren Schlechte <Warren.Schlechte@TPWD.STATE.TX.US>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Warren Schlechte <Warren.Schlechte@TPWD.STATE.TX.US>
Subject:      Re: Something better than SOUNDEX ?
Comments: To: "Richard A. DeVenezia" <rdevenezia@WILDBLUE.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I've not used it, but the CompLev Function and the CompCost Functions
might prove useful, based on my understanding of what they're supposed
to do.


Warren Schlechte


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard A. DeVenezia [mailto:rdevenezia@WILDBLUE.NET] 
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 2:05 PM
Subject: Something better than SOUNDEX ?

I've heard SOUNDEX can be used to compare two strings for relative
equality.

For these simple samples, soundex doesn't match.
-----------------------------------------
data _null_;
  length one two $50;

  one = "A life of rhyme does not pay";
  two = "A life of crime does not pay";

  onex = soundex(one);
  twox = soundex(two);

  put (_all_) (/) /;

  one = "Rhymers have their own style";
  two = "Criminals have their own style";

  onex = soundex(one);
  twox = soundex(two);

  put (_all_) (/) /;
run;
-----------------------------------------
A life of rhyme does not pay
A life of crime does not pay
A4116532531
A41126532531

Rhymers have their own style
Criminals have their own style
R5621365234
C655421365234


Are there any other functions that can compare and return a 0 to 100
rating
on the strength of comparison ? Something like :

    result = TextsComparator(text1,text2,algorithm-choice);
    if result = 100 then
      put 'both texts are ' text1 ;
    else
    if result > 80 then
      put 'texts seem close enough for today ' text1 ': ' text2;


Richard A. DeVenezia