NAME
String::Levenshtein - Compute the Levenshtein distance between two
strings
SYNOPSIS
use String::Levenshtein qw(distance prefix_distance);
$d = distance ("abcd", "abxc")
$d = prefix_distance("Smith", "Smithson")
DESCRIPTION
String::Levenshtein computes the *Levenshtein distance* between two
strings. The Levenshtein distance is defined as the minimum number of
characters that must be added, removed, or changed in order to transform
one string into another.
The Levenshtein distance is also called the *edit distance*.
FUNCTIONS
*$d* = "distance"(*$string1*, *$string2*)
Returns the Levenshtein distance between *$string1* and *$string2*.
Returns -1 on error.
*$d* = "prefix_distance"(*$string1*, *$string2*)
Returns the smallest number of characters that must be added,
removed or changed in order to transform the shorter of *$string1*
and *$string2* into a prefix of the longer.
Returns -1 on error.
EXAMPLES
Levenshtein prefix
String1 String2 distance distance
<empty> <empty> 0 0
abc <empty> 3 0
<empty> xyz 3 0
abc abc 3 0
abc xyz 3 3
abc abd 1 1
gumbo bambol 2 1
aaaa bbbbbbb 2 2
McDougall MacDougal 2 2
Smith Smithson 3 0
Smithson Smith 3 0
EXPORTS
"@EXPORT"
Nothing
"@EXPORT_OK"
* distance
* prefix_distance
DIAGNOSTICS
"distance" and "prefix_distance" return -1 on error. The only error is
memory allocation failure.
AUTHOR
Steven McDougall, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
