Core Function Soundex

Soundex( <str> )

Contents 1 Description 2 Parameters 2.1 string 3 Return Value 4 Remarks 5 Example

Description

Calculate the soundex key of a string.

Parameters

string

The input string.

Return Value

Returns the soundex key as a string.

Remarks

Soundex keys have the property that words pronounced similarly produce the same soundex key, and can thus be used to simplify searches in databases where you know the pronunciation but not the spelling.

This soundex function returns a string 4 characters long, starting with a letter.

This particular soundex function is one described by Donald Knuth in "The Art Of Computer Programming, vol. 3: Sorting And Searching", Addison-Wesley (1973), pp. 391-392.

Example

say soundex("Euler"); // E460 say soundex("Gauss"); // G200 say soundex("Hilbert"); // H416 say soundex("Knuth"); // K530 say soundex("Lloyd"); // L300 say soundex("Lukasiewicz"); // L222 </syntaxhighlight>