Comparing Multiple Character Fields
From: William L. Van Hout, Jr. <bvanhout_at_mindspring.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 20:20:22 -0400
Message-ID: <bvanhout.1.002CA631_at_mindspring.com>
to see if the data already exists with small differences (i.e. 241 South 42nd Street is the same as 241 S. 42nd St.). The only algorithm we have come up with so far is a _VERY_ complicated hashing algorithm which applies weights to the given fields and then compares the hash value.
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 20:20:22 -0400
Message-ID: <bvanhout.1.002CA631_at_mindspring.com>
Has anyone out there tried to compare two addresses to see if they are _Similar_. My org. needs to check a combination of:
company_name, address1, address2, city, state, zip,
to see if the data already exists with small differences (i.e. 241 South 42nd Street is the same as 241 S. 42nd St.). The only algorithm we have come up with so far is a _VERY_ complicated hashing algorithm which applies weights to the given fields and then compares the hash value.
We are looking for something better. SOUNDEX was suggested, but I do not know much about it and it does not look like we can use multiple fields effectively. Received on Tue Aug 09 1994 - 02:20:22 CEST