org.apache.commons.codec.language
Class RefinedSoundex

java.lang.Object
  org.apache.commons.codec.language.RefinedSoundex

All Implemented Interfaces:

Encoder, StringEncoder

public class RefinedSoundex
extends Object
implements StringEncoder

Encodes a string into a Refined Soundex value. A refined soundex code is optimized for spell checking words. Soundex method originally developed by Margaret Odell and Robert Russell.

This class is immutable and thread-safe.

Version:

$Id: RefinedSoundex.html 889935 2013-12-11 05:05:13Z ggregory $

US_ENGLISH_MAPPING_STRING

public static final String US_ENGLISH_MAPPING_STRING

Since:

1.4

See Also:

Constant Field Values

US_ENGLISH

public static final RefinedSoundex US_ENGLISH

This static variable contains an instance of the RefinedSoundex using the US_ENGLISH mapping.

RefinedSoundex

public RefinedSoundex()

Creates an instance of the RefinedSoundex object using the default US English mapping.

RefinedSoundex

public RefinedSoundex(char[] mapping)

Creates a refined soundex instance using a custom mapping. This constructor can be used to customize the mapping, and/or possibly provide an internationalized mapping for a non-Western character set.

Parameters:

mapping - Mapping array to use when finding the corresponding code for a given character

RefinedSoundex

public RefinedSoundex(String mapping)

Creates a refined Soundex instance using a custom mapping. This constructor can be used to customize the mapping, and/or possibly provide an internationalized mapping for a non-Western character set.

Parameters:

mapping - Mapping string to use when finding the corresponding code for a given character

Since:

1.4

difference

public int difference(String s1,
                      String s2)
               throws EncoderException

Returns the number of characters in the two encoded Strings that are the same. This return value ranges from 0 to the length of the shortest encoded String: 0 indicates little or no similarity, and 4 out of 4 (for example) indicates strong similarity or identical values. For refined Soundex, the return value can be greater than 4.

Parameters:

s1 - A String that will be encoded and compared.

s2 - A String that will be encoded and compared.

Returns:

The number of characters in the two encoded Strings that are the same from 0 to to the length of the shortest encoded String.

Throws:

EncoderException - if an error occurs encoding one of the strings

Since:

1.3

See Also:

SoundexUtils.difference(StringEncoder,String,String), MS T-SQL DIFFERENCE

encode

public Object encode(Object obj)
              throws EncoderException

Encodes an Object using the refined soundex algorithm. 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 (or type java.lang.String) containing the refined soundex code which corresponds to the String supplied.

Throws:

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

encode

public String encode(String str)

Encodes a String using the refined soundex algorithm.

Specified by:

encode in interface StringEncoder

Parameters:

str - A String object to encode

Returns:

A Soundex code corresponding to the String supplied

soundex

public String soundex(String str)

Retrieves the Refined Soundex code for a given String object.

Parameters:

str - String to encode using the Refined Soundex algorithm

Returns:

A soundex code for the String supplied