Blog : PHP metaphone() Function

PHP metaphone() Function

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 Complete PHP String Reference
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Definition and Usage
The metaphone() function calculates the metaphone key of a string.

A metaphone key represents how a string sounds if said by an English speaking person.

The metaphone() function can be used for spelling applications.

This function returns the metaphone key of the string on success, or FALSE on failure.

Syntax
metaphone(string,length)  

Parameter Description
string Required. Specifies the string to check
length Optional. Specifies the maximum length of the metaphone key


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Tips and Notes
Note: The metaphone() function creates the same key for similar sounding words.

Note: The generated metaphone keys vary in length.

Tip: metaphone() is more accurate than the soundex() function, because metaphone() knows the basic rules of English pronunciation.


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Example 1
echo metaphone("world");
?>  

The output of the code above will be:

WRLT  


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Example 2
In this example we use the metaphone() function on two similar sounding words:

$str = "Sun";
$str2 = "Son";

echo metaphone($str);
echo "
";
echo metaphone($str2);
?>  

The output of the code above will be:

SN
SN