Register forum user name Search FAQ

MUSHclient scripting

Description of MUSHclient world function: world.Metaphone


Name Metaphone
Type Method
Summary Returns the metaphone code for the supplied word
Prototype BSTR Metaphone(BSTR Word, short Length);
Description

Returns a code indicating the "sound" of the supplied word. This is intended for use in a spell checker or similar to find words that sound the same or similar.

For example:

swordfish = SRTF,XRTF
Gammon = KMN
gamon = KMN
gamin = KMN
Cameron = KMRN
bruise = PRS
Bruce = PRS

You supply the word to be converted, and a length indicating the maximum size code you want returned.

This uses the "double metaphone" algorithm written by Lawrence Philips. It returns either a single metaphone (like KMN for Gammon) or two metaphones where an alternative pronunciation could be considered. Thus in the case of "swordfish" you could store that under SRTF or XRTF and consider both sound-alikes. If there is a comma present, then you know you had an alternative returned.

Because of this, if you specify a 4 character length, you might get back 9 characters (two 4-character metaphones, plus a comma).

Apart from the comma, only the following letters will be returned:

0 A F H J K L M N P R S T X

(First one is a zero indicating the "th" sound).

For a fast lookup, you could map each letter into a hex digit and then combine them into a single 16-bit number, eg.

0 = 0
A = 1
F = 2
H = 3
J = 4
K = 5
L = 6
M = 7
N = 8
P = 9
R = A
S = B
T = C
X = D


Note: Available in version 3.81 onwards.


VBscript example
Note Metaphone ("swordfish", 4)
Lua example
Note (Metaphone ("swordfish"))
Lua notes
The length is optional and defaults to 4.

Also available as utils.metaphone.
Returns The converted code, or two codes separated by commas.
Introduced in version 3.81

See also ...

Function Description
EditDistance Returns the Levenshtein Edit Distance between two words

Search for script function

Enter a word or phrase in the box below to narrow the list down to those that match.

The function name, prototype, summary, and description are searched.

Search for:   

Leave blank to show all functions.


Return codes

Many functions return a "code" which indicates the success or otherwise of the function.

You can view a list of the return codes


Function prototypes

The "prototype" part of each function description lists exactly how the function is called (what arguments, if any, to pass to it).

You can view a list of the data types used in function prototypes


View all functions

[Back]

Information and images on this site are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License unless stated otherwise.