MakeMaker support for pod2html

[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / lib / Text / Soundex.pm

package Text::Soundex;
require 5.000;
require Exporter;

@ISA = qw(Exporter);
@EXPORT = qw(&soundex $soundex_nocode);

# $Id: soundex.pl,v 1.2 1994/03/24 00:30:27 mike Exp $
#
# Implementation of soundex algorithm as described by Knuth in volume
# 3 of The Art of Computer Programming, with ideas stolen from Ian
# Phillips <ian@pipex.net>.
#
# Mike Stok <Mike.Stok@meiko.concord.ma.us>, 2 March 1994.
#
# Knuth's test cases are:
# 
# Euler, Ellery -> E460
# Gauss, Ghosh -> G200
# Hilbert, Heilbronn -> H416
# Knuth, Kant -> K530
# Lloyd, Ladd -> L300
# Lukasiewicz, Lissajous -> L222
#
# $Log: soundex.pl,v $
# Revision 1.2  1994/03/24  00:30:27  mike
# Subtle bug (any excuse :-) spotted by Rich Pinder <rpinder@hsc.usc.edu>
# in the way I handles leasing characters which were different but had
# the same soundex code.  This showed up comparing it with Oracle's
# soundex output.
#
# Revision 1.1  1994/03/02  13:01:30  mike
# Initial revision
#
#
##############################################################################

# $soundex_nocode is used to indicate a string doesn't have a soundex
# code, I like undef other people may want to set it to 'Z000'.

$soundex_nocode = undef;

sub soundex
{
  local (@s, $f, $fc, $_) = @_;

  push @s, '' unless @s;	# handle no args as a single empty string

  foreach (@s)
  {
    $_ = uc $_;
    tr/A-Z//cd;

    if ($_ eq '')
    {
      $_ = $soundex_nocode;
    }
    else
    {
      ($f) = /^(.)/;
      tr/AEHIOUWYBFPVCGJKQSXZDTLMNR/00000000111122222222334556/;
      ($fc) = /^(.)/;
      s/^$fc+//;
      tr///cs;
      tr/0//d;
      $_ = $f . $_ . '000';
      s/^(.{4}).*/$1/;
    }
  }

  wantarray ? @s : shift @s;
}

1;

__END__

=head1 NAME

Text::Soundex - Implementation of the Soundex Algorithm as Described by Knuth

=head1 SYNOPSIS

  use Text::Soundex;

  $code = soundex $string;            # get soundex code for a string
  @codes = soundex @list;             # get list of codes for list of strings

  # set value to be returned for strings without soundex code

  $soundex_nocode = 'Z000';

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module implements the soundex algorithm as described by Donald Knuth
in Volume 3 of B<The Art of Computer Programming>.  The algorithm is
intended to hash words (in particular surnames) into a small space using a
simple model which approximates the sound of the word when spoken by an English
speaker.  Each word is reduced to a four character string, the first
character being an upper case letter and the remaining three being digits.

If there is no soundex code representation for a string then the value of
C<$soundex_nocode> is returned.  This is initially set to C<undef>, but
many people seem to prefer an I<unlikely> value like C<Z000>
(how unlikely this is depends on the data set being dealt with.)  Any value
can be assigned to C<$soundex_nocode>.

In scalar context C<soundex> returns the soundex code of its first
argument, and in array context a list is returned in which each element is the 
soundex code for the corresponding argument passed to C<soundex> e.g.

  @codes = soundex qw(Mike Stok);

leaves C<@codes> containing C<('M200', 'S320')>.

=head1 EXAMPLES

Knuth's examples of various names and the soundex codes they map to
are listed below:

  Euler, Ellery -> E460
  Gauss, Ghosh -> G200
  Hilbert, Heilbronn -> H416
  Knuth, Kant -> K530
  Lloyd, Ladd -> L300
  Lukasiewicz, Lissajous -> L222

so:

  $code = soundex 'Knuth';              # $code contains 'K530'
  @list = soundex qw(Lloyd Gauss);	# @list contains 'L300', 'G200'

=head1 LIMITATIONS

As the soundex algorithm was originally used a B<long> time ago in the US
it considers only the English alphabet and pronunciation.

As it is mapping a large space (arbitrary length strings) onto a small
space (single letter plus 3 digits) no inference can be made about the
similarity of two strings which end up with the same soundex code.  For 
example, both C<Hilbert> and C<Heilbronn> end up with a soundex code
of C<H416>.

=head1 AUTHOR

This code was implemented by Mike Stok (C<stok@cybercom.net>) from the 
description given by Knuth.  Ian Phillips (C<ian@pipex.net>) and Rich Pinder 
(C<rpinder@hsc.usc.edu>) supplied ideas and spotted mistakes.