Fuzzy Matching - new version plus explanation

[al_b_cnu]

It has been a while since I originally posted my Fuzzy matching UDF’s on the board, and several variants have appeared subsequently.

I thought it time to ‘put the record straight’ & post a definitive version which contains slightly more efficient code, and better matching algorithms, so here it is.

Firstly, I must state that the Fuzzy matching algorithms are very CPU hungry, and should be used sparingly. If for instance you require to lookup a match for a string which starts with, contains or ends with a specified value, this can be performed far more efficiently using the MATCH function:

Fuzzy Examples.xls
	A	B	C	D	E
1			Starts With	Ends	Contains
2			Bill	jelen	Bill
3	Mr Bill Jelen		4	3	3
4	Bill Jelen
5	Joe Bloggs
6	Fred Smith
MATCH Example

... Continued ...

 

[al_b_cnu]

Hi Taner zz - you may want to check out the function "FuzzyAlg1"
Hi jord1900 - sorry, it's a limitation I'm afraid.

 

[taner zz]

hi al_b_cnu
i changed in "FuzzyAlg1"
"If intPos > intStartPos + 3 Then"
to
"If intPos > intStartPos + 5 Then"

and it works. many thanks.​