1package Text::Soundex;
2require 5.000;
3require Exporter;
4
5@ISA = qw(Exporter);
6@EXPORT = qw(&soundex $soundex_nocode);
7
8$VERSION = '1.01';
9
10# $Id: soundex.pl,v 1.2 1994/03/24 00:30:27 mike Exp $
11#
12# Implementation of soundex algorithm as described by Knuth in volume
13# 3 of The Art of Computer Programming, with ideas stolen from Ian
14# Phillipps <ian@pipex.net>.
15#
16# Mike Stok <Mike.Stok@meiko.concord.ma.us>, 2 March 1994.
17#
18# Knuth's test cases are:
19#
20# Euler, Ellery -> E460
21# Gauss, Ghosh -> G200
22# Hilbert, Heilbronn -> H416
23# Knuth, Kant -> K530
24# Lloyd, Ladd -> L300
25# Lukasiewicz, Lissajous -> L222
26#
27# $Log: soundex.pl,v $
28# Revision 1.2  1994/03/24  00:30:27  mike
29# Subtle bug (any excuse :-) spotted by Rich Pinder <rpinder@hsc.usc.edu>
30# in the way I handles leasing characters which were different but had
31# the same soundex code.  This showed up comparing it with Oracle's
32# soundex output.
33#
34# Revision 1.1  1994/03/02  13:01:30  mike
35# Initial revision
36#
37#
38##############################################################################
39
40# $soundex_nocode is used to indicate a string doesn't have a soundex
41# code, I like undef other people may want to set it to 'Z000'.
42
43$soundex_nocode = undef;
44
45sub soundex
46{
47  local (@s, $f, $fc, $_) = @_;
48
49  push @s, '' unless @s;	# handle no args as a single empty string
50
51  foreach (@s)
52  {
53    $_ = uc $_;
54    tr/A-Z//cd;
55
56    if ($_ eq '')
57    {
58      $_ = $soundex_nocode;
59    }
60    else
61    {
62      ($f) = /^(.)/;
63      tr/AEHIOUWYBFPVCGJKQSXZDTLMNR/00000000111122222222334556/;
64      ($fc) = /^(.)/;
65      s/^$fc+//;
66      tr///cs;
67      tr/0//d;
68      $_ = $f . $_ . '000';
69      s/^(.{4}).*/$1/;
70    }
71  }
72
73  wantarray ? @s : shift @s;
74}
75
761;
77
78__END__
79
80=head1 NAME
81
82Text::Soundex - Implementation of the Soundex Algorithm as Described by Knuth
83
84=head1 SYNOPSIS
85
86  use Text::Soundex;
87
88  $code = soundex $string;            # get soundex code for a string
89  @codes = soundex @list;             # get list of codes for list of strings
90
91  # set value to be returned for strings without soundex code
92
93  $soundex_nocode = 'Z000';
94
95=head1 DESCRIPTION
96
97This module implements the soundex algorithm as described by Donald Knuth
98in Volume 3 of B<The Art of Computer Programming>.  The algorithm is
99intended to hash words (in particular surnames) into a small space using a
100simple model which approximates the sound of the word when spoken by an English
101speaker.  Each word is reduced to a four character string, the first
102character being an upper case letter and the remaining three being digits.
103
104If there is no soundex code representation for a string then the value of
105C<$soundex_nocode> is returned.  This is initially set to C<undef>, but
106many people seem to prefer an I<unlikely> value like C<Z000>
107(how unlikely this is depends on the data set being dealt with.)  Any value
108can be assigned to C<$soundex_nocode>.
109
110In scalar context C<soundex> returns the soundex code of its first
111argument, and in list context a list is returned in which each element is the
112soundex code for the corresponding argument passed to C<soundex> e.g.
113
114  @codes = soundex qw(Mike Stok);
115
116leaves C<@codes> containing C<('M200', 'S320')>.
117
118=head1 EXAMPLES
119
120Knuth's examples of various names and the soundex codes they map to
121are listed below:
122
123  Euler, Ellery -> E460
124  Gauss, Ghosh -> G200
125  Hilbert, Heilbronn -> H416
126  Knuth, Kant -> K530
127  Lloyd, Ladd -> L300
128  Lukasiewicz, Lissajous -> L222
129
130so:
131
132  $code = soundex 'Knuth';              # $code contains 'K530'
133  @list = soundex qw(Lloyd Gauss);	# @list contains 'L300', 'G200'
134
135=head1 LIMITATIONS
136
137As the soundex algorithm was originally used a B<long> time ago in the US
138it considers only the English alphabet and pronunciation.
139
140As it is mapping a large space (arbitrary length strings) onto a small
141space (single letter plus 3 digits) no inference can be made about the
142similarity of two strings which end up with the same soundex code.  For
143example, both C<Hilbert> and C<Heilbronn> end up with a soundex code
144of C<H416>.
145
146=head1 AUTHOR
147
148This code was implemented by Mike Stok (C<stok@cybercom.net>) from the
149description given by Knuth.  Ian Phillipps (C<ian@pipex.net>) and Rich Pinder
150(C<rpinder@hsc.usc.edu>) supplied ideas and spotted mistakes.
151