lv-step

This module provides methods to calculate the needed steps to transition from one list of things to another.

Quickstart

Example:

var lvstep = require('lv-step');
var from = 'tree'.split('');
var to = 'freddy'.split('');
var eq = function(a, b) {return a === b;};
var matrix = lvstep.matrix(from, to, eq);
var steps = lvstep.steps(matrix, to);

Steps:

[
	{ type: levenshtein.type.REPLACE, value: 'f', position: 0 },
	{ type: levenshtein.type.KEEP, value: 'r', position: 1 },
	{ type: levenshtein.type.KEEP, value: 'e', position: 2 },
	{ type: levenshtein.type.ADD, value: 'd', position: 3 },
	{ type: levenshtein.type.ADD, value: 'd', position: 3 },
	{ type: levenshtein.type.REPLACE, value: 'y', position: 3 }
]

API

.matrix(source, destination, equalityCheck)

This function calculates a full levenshtein matrix as a two dimensional array. The source and destination attributes should both be Arrays. An equality function must be passed as the third parameter, which should return true or false for any two objects.

var matrix = lvstep.matrix(
	['t', 'r', 'e', 'e'],
	['f', 'r', 'e', 'd', 'd', 'y'],
	function(a, b) {return a===b;}
);

Matrix:

[[0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
 [1, 1, 2, 3, 4],
 [2, 2, 1, 2, 3],
 [3, 3, 2, 1, 2],
 [4, 4, 3, 2, 2],
 [5, 5, 4, 3, 3],
 [6, 6, 5, 4, 4]]

.distance(matrix)

A small utility function to get the levenshtein distance for a given matrix.

//Returns 4
lvstep.distance(matrix);

.steps(matrix, destination)

Given a levenshtein matrix and a destination array, this function returns a list of steps which by themselves be used to transition from the source to the destination array.

var steps = lvstep.steps(matrix, ['f', 'r', 'e', 'd', 'd', 'y']);

steps:

[
	{ type: levenshtein.types.REPLACE, value: 'f', position: 0 },
	{ type: levenshtein.types.KEEP, value: 'r', position: 1 },
	{ type: levenshtein.types.KEEP, value: 'e', position: 2 },
	{ type: levenshtein.types.ADD, value: 'd', position: 3 },
	{ type: levenshtein.types.ADD, value: 'd', position: 3 },
	{ type: levenshtein.types.REPLACE, value: 'y', position: 3 }
]

The types correspond to the following:

• REPLACE: Replace the entry at thes specified position with the given value

   arr[step.position] = step.value

• KEEP: Do not modify the entry at the specified position

• ADD: Insert the value at the specified position

   arr.splice(step.position, 0, step.value);

• REMOVE: Remove the entry at the specified position

   arr.splice(step.position, 1);