Package org.apache.commons.text.similarity

Class EditDistanceFrom<R>

java.lang.Object
org.apache.commons.text.similarity.EditDistanceFrom<R>
Type Parameters:
R - This is the type of similarity score used by the EditDistance function.
public class EditDistanceFrom<R>
extends Object

This stores a EditDistance implementation and a CharSequence "left" string. The apply(CharSequence right) method accepts the "right" string and invokes the comparison function for the pair of strings.

The following is an example which finds the most similar string: 

 EditDistance<Integer> editDistance = new LevenshteinDistance();
 String target = "Apache";
 EditDistanceFrom<Integer> editDistanceFrom =
     new EditDistanceFrom<Integer>(editDistance, target);
 String mostSimilar = null;
 Integer shortestDistance = null;

 for (String test : new String[] { "Appaloosa", "a patchy", "apple" }) {
     Integer distance = editDistanceFrom.apply(test);
     if (shortestDistance == null || distance < shortestDistance) {
         shortestDistance = distance;
         mostSimilar = test;
     }
 }

 System.out.println("The string most similar to \"" + target + "\" "
     + "is \"" + mostSimilar + "\" because "
     + "its distance is only " + shortestDistance + ".");
Since:
1.0

  • Constructor Details

    • EditDistanceFrom

      public EditDistanceFrom​(EditDistance<R> editDistance, CharSequence left)

      This accepts the edit distance implementation and the "left" string.

      Parameters:
      editDistance - This may not be null.
      left - This may be null here, but the EditDistance#compare(CharSequence left, CharSequence right) implementation may not accept nulls.

  • Method Details

    • apply

      public R apply​(CharSequence right)

      This compares "left" field against the "right" parameter using the "edit distance" implementation.

      Parameters:
      right - the second CharSequence
      Returns:
      The similarity score between two CharSequences

    • getLeft

      public CharSequence getLeft()
      Gets the left parameter.
      Returns:
      The left parameter

    • getEditDistance

      public EditDistance<R> getEditDistance()
      Gets the edit distance.
      Returns:
      The edit distance