fuzzystrmatch

Extensions

fuzzystrmatch

fuzzystrmatch : determine similarities and distance between strings

Overview

ID	Extension	Package	Version	Category	License	Language
2380	fuzzystrmatch	fuzzystrmatch	`1.2`	FTS	PostgreSQL	C

Attribute	Has Binary	Has Library	Need Load	Has DDL	Relocatable	Trusted
--s-dt-	No	Yes	No	Yes	no	yes

Relationships
Need By	postgis_tiger_geocoder
See Also	pg_similarity smlar pg_trgm unaccent pg_bigm citext btree_gist btree_gin

Packages

PG18	PG17	PG16	PG15	PG14
1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2

This is a built-in contrib extension ship with the PostgreSQL kernel

Install

Create this extension with:

CREATE EXTENSION fuzzystrmatch;

Usage

fuzzystrmatch: Determine similarities and distance between strings

The fuzzystrmatch module provides functions to determine similarities and distance between strings.

CREATE EXTENSION fuzzystrmatch;

Soundex

Converts a string to its Soundex code (useful for matching similar-sounding names):

SELECT soundex('Anne'), soundex('Ann'), difference('Anne', 'Ann');
-- A500, A500, 4

SELECT soundex('Anne'), soundex('Andrew'), difference('Anne', 'Andrew');
-- A500, A536, 2

SELECT soundex('Anne'), soundex('Margaret'), difference('Anne', 'Margaret');
-- A500, M626, 0

The difference function returns 0–4, where 4 means most similar.

Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex

Returns a set of Daitch-Mokotoff soundex codes (better for non-English names):

SELECT daitch_mokotoff('George');
-- {595000}

SELECT daitch_mokotoff('John');
-- {160000,460000}

-- Find names sounding like 'Schwartzenegger'
SELECT * FROM s WHERE daitch_mokotoff(nm) && daitch_mokotoff('Schwartzenegger');

Supports indexing with GIN:

CREATE INDEX ON s USING gin (daitch_mokotoff(nm) gin__int_ops);

Levenshtein Distance

Computes edit distance between two strings (insertions, deletions, substitutions):

SELECT levenshtein('GUMBO', 'GAMBOL');
-- 2

SELECT levenshtein('GUMBO', 'GAMBOL', 2, 1, 1);
-- 3 (custom costs: insert=2, delete=1, substitute=1)

-- Bounded version (faster, stops early)
SELECT levenshtein_less_equal('extensive', 'exhaustive', 2);
-- 3 (actual distance exceeds threshold, returns actual)

SELECT levenshtein_less_equal('extensive', 'exhaustive', 4);
-- 4

Metaphone

Returns a metaphone code for a string:

SELECT metaphone('GUMBO', 4);
-- KM

Double Metaphone

Returns primary and alternate codes (handles more name variations):

SELECT dmetaphone('gumbo');
-- KMP

SELECT dmetaphone_alt('gumbo');
-- KMP

Last updated on 2026-03-24

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