Search similar string in an array?

Question

I have an array that contains some strings, am trying to find particular string is present in an array, I tried to use array_search() it is working but it is searching for exact string, is there any way to find similar string and returns its position. Below is my example.

$prodInfoStr = 'banana_2_3_150';
$myArr = Array ( [0] => apple_3_1_180 [1] => apricot_4_100_65 [2] => banana_2_3_135 );
$searchRes = trim(array_search($prodInfoStr,$myArr ));

$searchRes returns 2. it is perfectly fine.

If I search for banana_2_4_200, result should return me 2 so that I can replace it.

If is search for banana_2_3_150 that should return 2, similar in the sense starting letter should match. — Noor Fathima
– Noor Fathima, Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 9:50
What should it return if you search for apple_4_100_65? Should it return apricot_4_100_65 or apple_3_1_180? — Mark Baker
– Mark Baker, Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 9:59

shatheesh · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-04 09:49:19Z

You could try this,

// input word
$input = 'banana_2_3_150';

// array of words to check against
$words  = array('apple_3_1_180','apricot_4_100_65','banana_2_2.5_135');

// no shortest distance found, yet
$shortest = -1;

// loop through words to find the closest
foreach ($words as $word) {

    // calculate the distance between the input word,
    // and the current word
    $lev = levenshtein($input, $word);

    // check for an exact match
    if ($lev == 0) {

        // closest word is this one (exact match)
        $closest = $word;
        $shortest = 0;

        // break out of the loop; we've found an exact match
        break;
    }

    // if this distance is less than the next found shortest
    // distance, OR if a next shortest word has not yet been found
    if ($lev <= $shortest || $shortest < 0) {
        // set the closest match, and shortest distance
        $closest  = $word;
        $shortest = $lev;
    }
}


 echo "Matched Key =>" . array_search($closest,$words);

I have taken this code from php.net and modified. Refer the below link for more

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.levenshtein.php

georg · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-04 09:48:32Z

0

You can calculate a Levenshtein distance for each string and then pick the string with the smallest distance:

$myArr = Array ( 'apple_3_1_180', 'apricot_4_100_65', 'banana_2_2.5_135' );

$prodInfoStr = 'banana_2_3_150';

$scores = array();
foreach($myArr as $item)
    $scores[$item] = levenshtein($item, $prodInfoStr);

asort($scores);
echo "the most similar string is ", key($scores);

answered Jun 4, 2014 at 9:48

georg

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