From: Rainer Thiel <lists@...>
Date: 2012-09-03T19:04:07+09:00
Subject: Re: Looking for patterns in a collection

Robert Klemme wrote in post #1074405:
> On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 12:52 AM, Rainer Thiel <lists@ruby-forum.com>
> wrote:
>> So the comparison must proceed with some element of configurable
>> tolerance.
>
> This seems to be the crucial point: you need to explicate what
> "configurable tolerance" means.  Only you can define that requirement.
>  Then someone might be able to answer the question:
>
Thanks Robert. I am trying to say that i don't expect any perfect 
matches, so the comparison should accommodate some (but not too much) 
variation, i.e. identify 'approximate' matches. I expect i will have to 
use a trial and error approach (hence configurable) to find an 
appropriate "tolerance level".

Say for example i have the following four entries:

{d1 => ['zero','one','two','three','four','five','six']}
{d2 => ['zero','one','___','three','four','five','six']}
{d3 => ['____','one','two','three','four','____','___']}
{d4 => ['zero','one','two','three','four','five','six']}

Say i define "tolerance level" as the maximum number of differences 
allowed before the comparison returns a mismatch, then:

tolerance level 0 will match d1 and d4,
tolerance level 1 will match d1, d2 and d4,
tolerance level 2 will match d1, d2 and d4,
tolerance level 3 will match all of them.

Regards, Rainer

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