CODEWITHSUNDEEP
java
belafarinrod91
belafarinrod91

Reputation: 323

Java : Get the most similar string

need another hint from you:

I have a list with system-paths in it :

C:\System\local\something\anything 
C:\System\local\anywhere\somewhere
C:\System\local\
C:\System\
C:\something\somewhere

My reference path is :

C:\System\local\test\anything\

Now i am looking for the most similar system path, the result should be 

Result from the list :
C:\System\local\

So what's to do ?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 232

Answers (3)

Stephen C
Stephen C

Reputation: 718678

Well your example is actually showing that the answer is the longest system path that the given path starts with. This can be computed as follows:

String[] systemPaths = ...
String path = ...
String bestMatch = null;
for (String candidate : systemPaths) {
    if (path.startsWith(candidate) && 
        (bestMatch == null || bestMatch.length() < candidate.length())) {
        bestMatch = candidate;
    }
}

This assumes that the system paths all end with a file separator, and that you want to do the matching case sensitively. If not, the adjustments should be obvious.

Upvotes: 0

Jeroen Vannevel
Jeroen Vannevel

Reputation: 44439

A possible solution:

Loop trough your list of paths, split them on the backslash character and then loop trough every value of the resulting array. See how long it equals the values of your reference path and give them a score accordingly. My example is a little rough, but you can adjust it accordingly.

public class PathScore {
    public String Path;
    public int Score;
}

public class Systempaths {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Systempaths();
    }

    public Systempaths() {
        String[] paths = new String[5];
        paths[0] = "C:\\System\\local\\something\\anything";
        paths[1] = "C:\\System\\local\\anywhere\\somewhere";
        paths[2] = "C:\\System\\local";
        paths[3] = "C:\\System\\";
        paths[4] = "C:\\something\\somewhere";

        String ref = "C:\\System\\local\\test\\anything";
        String[] reference = ref.split("\\\\");

        List<PathScore> scores = new ArrayList<>();

        for (String s : paths) {
            String[] exploded = s.split("\\\\");
            PathScore current = new PathScore();
            current.Path = s;
            for (int i = 0; i < exploded.length; i++) {
                if (exploded[i].equals(reference[i])) {
                    current.Score = i + 1;
                } else {
                    // Punishment for paths that exceed the reference path (1)
                    current.Score = i - 1;
                    break;
                }
            }

            scores.add(current);
        }

        for (PathScore ps : scores) {
            System.out.printf("%s:\t%d\n", ps.Path, ps.Score);
        }
    }
}

Outputs:

C:\System\local\something\anything: 2
C:\System\local\anywhere\somewhere: 2
C:\System\local:    3
C:\System\: 2
C:\something\somewhere: 0

(1): I add a small punishment for paths (like C:\System\local\something\anything) that are too specific and go further than the reference path ("C:\System\local\test\anything") allows.

Upvotes: 1

Vivek
Vivek

Reputation: 147

Since you have a list of system-paths which is predefined and now you have got a reference path where you need to find out the most similar system path from the list,my take would be a match between the reference path and against each item on the system-path list. Regex based comparisons would be easier.

Upvotes: 0

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