org.apache.commons.codec.language

Class DaitchMokotoffSoundex

java.lang.Object

org.apache.commons.codec.language.DaitchMokotoffSoundex

All Implemented Interfaces:

Encoder, StringEncoder

public class DaitchMokotoffSoundex
extends Object
implements StringEncoder

Encodes a string into a Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex value.

The Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex algorithm is a refinement of the Russel and American Soundex algorithms, yielding greater accuracy in matching especially Slavish and Yiddish surnames with similar pronunciation but differences in spelling.

The main differences compared to the other soundex variants are:

• coded names are 6 digits long
• the initial character of the name is coded
• rules to encoded multi-character n-grams
• multiple possible encodings for the same name (branching)

This implementation supports branching, depending on the used method:

• encode(String) - branching disabled, only the first code will be returned
• soundex(String) - branching enabled, all codes will be returned, separated by '|'

Note: this implementation has additional branching rules compared to the original description of the algorithm. The rules can be customized by overriding the default rules contained in the resource file org/apache/commons/codec/language/dmrules.txt.

This class is thread-safe.

Since:

1.10

See Also:

Soundex, Wikipedia - Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex, Avotaynu - Soundexing and Genealogy

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
DaitchMokotoffSoundex() Creates a new instance with ASCII-folding enabled.
DaitchMokotoffSoundex(boolean folding) Creates a new instance.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
Object	encode(Object obj) Encodes an Object using the Daitch-Mokotoff soundex algorithm without branching.
String	encode(String source) Encodes a String using the Daitch-Mokotoff soundex algorithm without branching.
String	soundex(String source) Encodes a String using the Daitch-Mokotoff soundex algorithm with branching.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

DaitchMokotoffSoundex

public DaitchMokotoffSoundex()

Creates a new instance with ASCII-folding enabled.

DaitchMokotoffSoundex

public DaitchMokotoffSoundex(boolean folding)

Creates a new instance.

With ASCII-folding enabled, certain accented characters will be transformed to equivalent ASCII characters, e.g. è -> e.

Parameters:

folding - if ASCII-folding shall be performed before encoding

Method Detail

encode

public Object encode(Object obj)
              throws EncoderException

Encodes an Object using the Daitch-Mokotoff soundex algorithm without branching.

This method is provided in order to satisfy the requirements of the Encoder interface, and will throw an EncoderException if the supplied object is not of type java.lang.String.

Specified by:

encode in interface Encoder

Parameters:

obj - Object to encode

Returns:

An object (of type java.lang.String) containing the DM soundex code, which corresponds to the String supplied.

Throws:

EncoderException - if the parameter supplied is not of type java.lang.String

IllegalArgumentException - if a character is not mapped

See Also:

soundex(String)

encode

public String encode(String source)

Encodes a String using the Daitch-Mokotoff soundex algorithm without branching.

Specified by:

encode in interface StringEncoder

Parameters:

source - A String object to encode

Returns:

A DM Soundex code corresponding to the String supplied

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if a character is not mapped

See Also:

soundex(String)

soundex

public String soundex(String source)

Encodes a String using the Daitch-Mokotoff soundex algorithm with branching.

In case a string is encoded into multiple codes (see branching rules), the result will contain all codes, separated by '|'.

Example: the name "AUERBACH" is encoded as both

• 097400
• 097500

Thus the result will be "097400|097500".

Parameters:

source - A String object to encode

Returns:

A string containing a set of DM Soundex codes corresponding to the String supplied

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if a character is not mapped