Hello
I need an algorithm for comparing 2 strings. IT must function like "LIKE" method in SQL.
Can anyone help me on this ?
I think it must be done with regular expresion, but i have no ideea how.
For example:
"Hello everybody in here, the java Forum" MUST mach with "everybody in here forum"
Is this possible ?
Thankx
> Hello
> I need an algorithm for comparing 2 strings. IT must
> function like "LIKE" method in SQL.
> Can anyone help me on this ?
> I think it must be done with regular expresion, but i
> have no ideea how.
AFAIK, the SQL 'like' operator has two wildcards, % and _. These can be mapped to regexes fairly easily, though, its not the only way to get this behavior.
> For example:
>
> "Hello everybody in here, the java Forum" MUST mach
> with "everybody in here forum"
I don't think this should match. You need the wildcards % and _ in your pattern...
> Is this possible ?
Easy!
Try this:
1. Split the search string into an array
2. Make a 'for loop' that looks to see if all are found or else escapes at first non match and returns false;
3. Check to see if true or false;
String match = "Hello everybody in here, the java Forum";
String input = "everybody in here forum";
String[] fields = input.split(" ");
boolean matches = true;
loop:
for(String s : fields){
if( !s.equal(s)){
matches = false;
break loop;
}
}
System.out.println("Is [" + input + "] LIKE [" + match + "] = " + matches);
This is probably much faster than using a regular expression and works best on short target strings.