PHP - check if string is similar to pattern

Question

In PHP there is the levenshtein-method, right?

With it you can check how similar two strings are.

But is there a way that you have a pattern (regEx) that you compare with a string?

So let's say you have the pattern: L234X567PP All of the Numbers are changeable. Just the letters must be there (and at exactly the same position)

So now you have some Strings: L000X000PP L987X123PP Those should be valid.

B000X678XX This is not valid but levenshtein detects a similarity and could ask to correct the wrong letters (is that possible?)

How can you do this with PHP?

Niet the Dark Absol · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-02 16:52:45Z

2

An interesting concept, but why not try this?

if( preg_match("/^L\d{3}X\d{3}PP$/",$input)) { /* all ok! */ }
elseif( preg_match("/^[A-Z]\d{3}[A-Z]\d{3}[A-Z][A-Z]$/i",$input)) { /* letters were wrong */ }
// ... continue defining possible errors manually

answered Mar 2, 2014 at 16:52

Niet the Dark Absol

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1 Comment

SwiftedMind Over a year ago

That is a nice idea. I will try that out. And thanks to the others as well.

Akshay Kalose · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-02 16:53:04Z

2

Yes, you can do this using PHP. Here is the regex you would use for your specified pattern:

$regex = '/^L[0-9]{3}X[0-9]{3}PP$/';
$input = 'L000X000PP';
if (preg_match($regex, $input) == 1) {
    echo "Matches!";
} else {
    echo "Does Not Match!"
}

answered Mar 2, 2014 at 16:53

Akshay Kalose

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1 Comment

Niet the Dark Absol Over a year ago

How does this answer the question of "almost matching"?

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-02 17:02:57Z

1

That is where soundex function steps in. See this code snippet:

$str1 = "L000X000PP";
$str2 = "L987X123PP";
$_str1 = soundex ($str1);
$_str2 = soundex ($str2);

var_dump($_str1);
var_dump($_str2);
var_dump($_str1 == $_str2);

OUTPUT:

string(4) "L210"
string(4) "L210"
bool(true)

answered Mar 2, 2014 at 17:02

anubhava

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2 Comments

SwiftedMind Over a year ago

thank you. I will try that out. But I think function could be problematic at some point because of the pronunciation. But I will try it, maybe it helps :)

anubhava Over a year ago

This may turn out to be pretty useful for you as even L987654321X1234578PP produces same L210 output.

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