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levenshtein.js | ||
LICENSE.md | ||
package.json | ||
README.md |
fast-levenshtein - Levenshtein algorithm in Javascript
An efficient Javascript implementation of the Levenshtein algorithm with asynchronous callback support.
Features
- Works in node.js and in the browser.
- Better performance than other implementations by not needing to store the whole matrix (more info).
- Provides synchronous and asynchronous versions of the algorithm.
- Asynchronous version is almost as fast as the synchronous version for small strings and can also provide progress updates.
- Comprehensive test suite and performance benchmark.
- Small: <1 KB minified and gzipped
Installation
node.js
Install using npm:
$ npm install fast-levenshtein
Browser
Using bower:
$ bower install fast-levenshtein
If you are not using any module loader system then the API will then be accessible via the window.Levenshtein
object.
Examples
Synchronous
var levenshtein = require('fast-levenshtein');
var distance = levenshtein.get('back', 'book'); // 2
var distance = levenshtein.get('我愛你', '我叫你'); // 1
Asynchronous
var levenshtein = require('fast-levenshtein');
levenshtein.getAsync('back', 'book', function (err, distance) {
// err is null unless an error was thrown
// distance equals 2
});
Asynchronous with progress updates
var levenshtein = require('fast-levenshtein');
var hugeText1 = fs.readFileSync(...);
var hugeText2 = fs.readFileSync(...);
levenshtein.getAsync(hugeText1, hugeText2, function (err, distance) {
// process the results as normal
}, {
progress: function(percentComplete) {
console.log(percentComplete + ' % completed so far...');
}
);
Building and Testing
To build the code and run the tests:
$ npm install -g grunt-cli
$ npm install
$ npm run build
Performance
Thanks to Titus Wormer for encouraging me to do this.
Benchmarked against other node.js levenshtein distance modules (on Macbook Air 2012, Core i7, 8GB RAM):
Running suite Implementation comparison [benchmark/speed.js]...
>> levenshtein-edit-distance x 234 ops/sec ±3.02% (73 runs sampled)
>> levenshtein-component x 422 ops/sec ±4.38% (83 runs sampled)
>> levenshtein-deltas x 283 ops/sec ±3.83% (78 runs sampled)
>> natural x 255 ops/sec ±0.76% (88 runs sampled)
>> levenshtein x 180 ops/sec ±3.55% (86 runs sampled)
>> fast-levenshtein x 1,792 ops/sec ±2.72% (95 runs sampled)
Benchmark done.
Fastest test is fast-levenshtein at 4.2x faster than levenshtein-component
You can run this benchmark yourself by doing:
$ npm install -g grunt-cli
$ npm install
$ npm run build
$ npm run benchmark
Contributing
If you wish to submit a pull request please update and/or create new tests for any changes you make and ensure the grunt build passes.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
License
MIT - see LICENSE.md