We have /contrib/soundex and items to help here. 7.2 will have even more of them.
> > On Sunday, October 7, 2001, at 01:47 AM, Frank Joerdens wrote: > > > Does anyone know how to do a phonetic and/or synonym search (this would > > be for the German language mostly)? What's the approach in theory? > > The first thing you need to do is track down an algorithm that converts > a word into a code representing how the word sounds. This is language > specific, > and all the ones I know of are English specific or surname specific. > These > might do the job well enough in German, but you would need to test. > Examples > of the algorithms you are after are soundex (an implementation exists in > the contrib > directory of your postgresql source) and NYSIIS (I've got a C > implementation for > PostgreSQL if there is interest). Once you have reduced a word to its > code, you > can test if two words sound alike by simply comparing them > ( nysiis('katie') == nysiis('city'). > > Examples on how to use this might be simply to create the relevant > function index on > your table, if your value contains only one word: > > create index idx_blah on people (nysiis(surname)) > > You can then just use "nysiis('smith') = nysiis(surname)" in your where > clause of your SQL. > > If you have multiple words in your value, you need triggers to split the > phrases into > words and store them in another table. You then use this table to > perform your phonetic > searches. > > -- > Stuart Bishop <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -- Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us [EMAIL PROTECTED] | (610) 853-3000 + If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue + Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026 ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/docs/faq.html