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Soundex
From Greg Jorgensen's <a href=http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/52213>recipe</a>.
def soundex(name, len=4):
# digits holds the soundex values for the alphabet
digits = '01230120022455012623010202'
sndx = ''
fc = ''
# translate alpha chars in name to soundex digits
for c in name.upper():
if c.isalpha():
if not fc: fc = c # remember first letter
d = digits[ord(c)-ord('A')]
# duplicate consecutive soundex digits are skipped
if not sndx or (d != sndx[-1]):
sndx += d
sndx = fc + sndx[1:] # replace first digit with first char
sndx = sndx.replace('0','') # remove all 0s
return (sndx + (len * '0'))[:len] # padded to len characters
Similar words will return the same soundex
>>> soundex('hello')
'H400'
>>> soundex('hola')
'H400'
