Fuzzy search for leniency on spelling mistakes

[joe_g]

Hi there,

I've got a question I suspect there might not be an easy answer for:

Is there a way to do fuzzy search to allow for spelling mistakes? For example, showing results with 1 or 2 characters wrong or missing, or similar?

thanks, j

[bernhard]

You could ask an AI to provide additional search terms:

[da²]

If using an AI, why not simply ask it to fix spelling? Then you do the search on the corrected word, AND the user provided (in case AI did a mistake itself).

Edited September 17, 2024 by da²

[BrendonKoz]

ProcessWire uses MySQL, and as such exposes, through selector queries, a limited (though quite decent) set of options for matching. None of these are truly fuzzy, as MySQL requires quite a bit of additional effort for that type of search result matching. Typically the solution for fuzzy searching is to use a purpose-built engine, such as ElasticSearch, Algolia, Typesense, or similar options.

[Robin S]

@joe_g, you might be interested in this recently released module:

 

[joe_g]

Thanks, i sort of imagined that elasticsearch would be the solution.

My case is a bit different I've got both misspelled words but also a mix of languages. A word can be very similar in another language but not directly misspelled. Interesting suggestions, nevertheless, thanks!

[BrendonKoz]

On 9/18/2024 at 12:26 AM, Robin S said:

@joe_g, you might be interested in this recently released module:

 

Oooooooh, very nice!