How to add levenshtein function in mysql?

Question

I got the code for Levenshtein distance for MySQL from http://kristiannissen.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/mysql-levenshtein/^{(archive.org link)}, but how to add that function in MySQL? I am using XAMPP and I need it for search in PHP.

Answer 1

I have connected to my MySQL server and simply executed this statement in MySQL Workbench, and it simply worked - I now have new function levenshtein().

For example, this works as expected:

SELECT levenshtein('abcde', 'abced')

2

Answer 2

DELIMITER $$
CREATE FUNCTION levenshtein( s1 VARCHAR(255), s2 VARCHAR(255) ) 
RETURNS INT 
DETERMINISTIC 
BEGIN 
DECLARE s1_len, s2_len, i, j, c, c_temp, cost INT; 
DECLARE s1_char CHAR; 
-- max strlen=255 
DECLARE cv0, cv1 VARBINARY(256); 
SET s1_len = CHAR_LENGTH(s1), s2_len = CHAR_LENGTH(s2), cv1 = 0x00, j = 1, i = 1, c = 0; 
IF s1 = s2 THEN 
  RETURN 0; 
ELSEIF s1_len = 0 THEN 
  RETURN s2_len; 
ELSEIF s2_len = 0 THEN 
  RETURN s1_len; 
ELSE 
  WHILE j <= s2_len DO 
    SET cv1 = CONCAT(cv1, UNHEX(HEX(j))), j = j + 1; 
  END WHILE; 
  WHILE i <= s1_len DO 
    SET s1_char = SUBSTRING(s1, i, 1), c = i, cv0 = UNHEX(HEX(i)), j = 1; 
    WHILE j <= s2_len DO 
      SET c = c + 1; 
      IF s1_char = SUBSTRING(s2, j, 1) THEN  
        SET cost = 0; ELSE SET cost = 1; 
      END IF; 
      SET c_temp = CONV(HEX(SUBSTRING(cv1, j, 1)), 16, 10) + cost; 
      IF c > c_temp THEN SET c = c_temp; END IF; 
        SET c_temp = CONV(HEX(SUBSTRING(cv1, j+1, 1)), 16, 10) + 1; 
        IF c > c_temp THEN  
          SET c = c_temp;  
        END IF; 
        SET cv0 = CONCAT(cv0, UNHEX(HEX(c))), j = j + 1; 
    END WHILE; 
    SET cv1 = cv0, i = i + 1; 
  END WHILE; 
END IF; 
RETURN c; 
END$$
DELIMITER ;

Answer 3

the web paged linked in question is dead. By the way, the function's create code is here:

DELIMITER $$

CREATE FUNCTION levenshtein( s1 varchar(255), s2 varchar(255) ) returns int deterministic 
BEGIN 
  DECLARE s1_len, 
    s2_len, 
    i, 
    j, 
    c, 
    c_temp, 
    cost          int; 
  declare s1_char char; 
  -- max strlen=255 
  declare cv0, 
    cv1 varbinary(256); 
  set s1_len = char_length(s1), 
    s2_len = char_length(s2), 
    cv1 = 0x00, 
    j = 1, 
    i = 1, 
    c = 0; 
  if s1 = s2 THEN 
  RETURN 0; 
elseif s1_len = 0 THEN 
  RETURN s2_len; 
elseif s2_len = 0 THEN 
  RETURN s1_len; 
  else 
  WHILE j <= s2_len do 
  SET cv1 = concat(cv1, unhex(hex(j))), 
    j = j + 1; 
endWHILE;WHILE i <= s1_len do 
SET s1_char = substring(s1, i, 1), 
  c = i, 
  cv0 = unhex(hex(i)), 
  j = 1;WHILE j <= s2_len do 
SET c = c + 1;IF s1_char = Substring(s2, j, 1) then 
SET cost = 0; 
else 
SET cost = 1;ENDIF;SET c_temp = conv(hex(substring(cv1, j, 1)), 16, 10) + cost;IF c > c_temp then
SET c = c_temp;ENDIF;SET c_temp = conv(hex(substring(cv1, j+1, 1)), 16, 10) + 1;IF c > c_temp then
SET c = c_temp;ENDIF;SET cv0 = concat(cv0, unhex(hex(c))), 
  j = j + 1;ENDWHILE;SET cv1 = cv0, 
  i = i + 1;ENDWHILE;ENDIF;RETURN c;
END;

DELIMITER ;

I hope it helps some body!

Answer 4

• Login to mysql database through phpmyadmin or through terminal.

• click sql.

• add delimiter $$ to your the function in the above link and at the end delimiter ;.

• once if it successfully compiled you can use it in that database wherever you want like inside of another procedures or functions or queries etc..!