Soundex algorithm in Python (homework help request)

Question

The US census bureau uses a special encoding called “soundex” to locate information about a person. The soundex is an encoding of surnames (last names) based on the way a surname sounds rather than the way it is spelled. Surnames that sound the same, but are spelled differently, like SMITH and SMYTH, have the same code and are filed together. The soundex coding system was developed so that you can find a surname even though it may have been recorded under various spellings.

In this lab you will design, code, and document a program that produces the soundex code when input with a surname. A user will be prompted for a surname, and the program should output the corresponding code.

Basic Soundex Coding Rules

Every soundex encoding of a surname consists of a letter and three numbers. The letter used is always the first letter of the surname. The numbers are assigned to the remaining letters of the surname according to the soundex guide shown below. Zeroes are added at the end if necessary to always produce a four-character code. Additional letters are disregarded.

Soundex Coding Guide

Soundex assigns a number for various consonants. Consonants that sound alike are assigned the same number:

Number Consonants

1 B, F, P, V 2 C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, Z 3 D, T 4 L 5 M, N 6 R

Soundex disregards the letters A, E, I, O, U, H, W, and Y.

There are 3 additional Soundex Coding Rules that are followed. A good program design would implement these each as one or more separate functions.

Rule 1. Names With Double Letters

If the surname has any double letters, they should be treated as one letter. For example:

Gutierrez is coded G362 (G, 3 for the T, 6 for the first R, second R ignored, 2 for the Z). Rule 2. Names with Letters Side-by-Side that have the Same Soundex Code Number

If the surname has different letters side-by-side that have the same number in the soundex coding guide, they should be treated as one letter. Examples:

Pfister is coded as P236 (P, F ignored since it is considered same as P, 2 for the S, 3 for the T, 6 for the R).

Jackson is coded as J250 (J, 2 for the C, K ignored same as C, S ignored same as C, 5 for the N, 0 added).

Rule 3. Consonant Separators

3.a. If a vowel (A, E, I, O, U) separates two consonants that have the same soundex code, the consonant to the right of the vowel is coded. Example:

Tymczak is coded as T-522 (T, 5 for the M, 2 for the C, Z ignored (see "Side-by-Side" rule above), 2 for the K). Since the vowel "A" separates the Z and K, the K is coded. 3.b. If "H" or "W" separate two consonants that have the same soundex code, the consonant to the right is not coded. Example:

*Ashcraft is coded A261 (A, 2 for the S, C ignored since same as S with H in between, 6 for the R, 1 for the F). It is not coded A226.

So far this is my code:

surname = raw_input("Please enter surname:")
outstring = ""

outstring = outstring + surname[0]
for i in range (1, len(surname)):
        nextletter = surname[i]
        if nextletter in ['B','F','P','V']:
            outstring = outstring + '1'

        elif nextletter in ['C','G','J','K','Q','S','X','Z']:
            outstring = outstring + '2'

        elif nextletter in ['D','T']:
            outstring = outstring + '3'

        elif nextletter in ['L']:
            outstring = outstring + '4'

        elif nextletter in ['M','N']:
            outstring = outstring + '5'

        elif nextletter in ['R']:
            outstring = outstring + '6'

print outstring

sufficiently does what it is asked to, I am just not sure how to code the three rules. That is where I need help. So, any help is appreciated.

Opine

i helped by clarifying the title ;-) – Graphemics

Im not reading your entire homework assignment. Repost this with what the inputs are and what you want as an output. – Roe

He's set the entire scene and asked for help on how to move on. He has at NO POINT asked for an answer. If he did repost asking stating inputs and outputs then this should be closed. It is a very good example of how a homework question should be asked!!! – Drunkard

Exact duplicate with #1562938 by same author !!! – Cantle

Guys, just think at the effort he put in writing this thing. Cut him some slack. – Yovonnda

Answer 1

I would suggest you try the following.

• Store a CurrentCoded and LastCoded variable to work with before appended to your output
• Break down the system into useful functions, such as
  1. Boolean IsVowel(Char)
  2. Int Coded(Char)
  3. Boolean IsRule1(Char, Char)

Once you break it down nicely it should become easier to manage.

Drunkard

Answer 2

This is hardly perfect (for instance, it produces the wrong result if the input doesn't start with a letter), and it doesn't implement the rules as independently-testable functions, so it's not really going to serve as an answer to the homework question. But this is how I'd implement it:

>>> def soundex_prepare(s):
        """Prepare string for Soundex encoding.

        Remove non-alpha characters (and the not-of-interest W/H/Y), 
        convert to upper case, and remove all runs of repeated letters."""
        p = re.compile("[^a-gi-vxz]", re.IGNORECASE)
        s = re.sub(p, "", s).upper()
        for c in set(s):
            s = re.sub(c + "{2,}", c, s)
        return s

>>> def soundex_encode(s):
        """Encode a name string using the Soundex algorithm."""
        result = s[0].upper()
        s = soundex_prepare(s[1:])
        letters = 'ABCDEFGIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXZ'
        codes   = '.123.12.22455.12623.122'
        d = dict(zip(letters, codes))
        prev_code=""
        for c in s:
            code = d[c]
            if code != "." and code != prev_code:
                result += code
         if len(result) >= 4: break
            prev_code = code
        return (result + "0000")[:4]

Kosel

Answer 3

surname = input("Enter surname of the author: ") #asks user to input the author's surname

while surname != "": #initiates a while loop thats loops on as long as the input is not equal to an empty line

    str_ini = surname[0] #denotes the initial letter of the surname string
    mod_str1 = surname[1:] #denotes modified string excluding the first letter of the surname

    import re #importing re module to access the sub function
    mod_str2 = re.sub(r'[aeiouyhwAEIOUYHW]', '', mod_str1) #eliminating any instances of the given letters


    mod_str21 = re.sub(r'[bfpvBFPV]', '1', mod_str2)
    mod_str22 = re.sub(r'[cgjkqsxzCGJKQSXZ]', '2', mod_str21)
    mod_str23 = re.sub(r'[dtDT]', '3', mod_str22)
    mod_str24 = re.sub(r'[lL]', '4', mod_str23)
    mod_str25 = re.sub(r'[mnMN]', '5', mod_str24)
    mod_str26 = re.sub(r'[rR]', '6', mod_str25)
                #substituting given letters with specific numbers as required by the soundex algorithm

    mod_str3 = str_ini.upper()+mod_str26 #appending the surname initial with the remaining modified trunk

    import itertools #importing itertools module to access the groupby function
    mod_str4 = ''.join(char for char, rep in itertools.groupby(mod_str3))
                #grouping each character of the string into individual characters
                #removing sequences of identical numbers with a single number
                #joining the individually grouped characters into a string

    mod_str5 = (mod_str4[:4]) #setting character limit of the modified string upto the fourth place

    if len (mod_str5) == 1:
        print (mod_str5 + "000\n")
    elif len (mod_str5) == 2:
        print (mod_str5 + "00\n")
    elif len (mod_str5) == 3:
        print (mod_str5 + "0\n")
    else:
        print (mod_str5 + "\n")
                #using if, elif and else arguments for padding with trailing zeros

    print ("Press enter to exit") #specification for the interactor, to press enter (i.e., equivalent to a new line for breaking the while loop) when he wants to exit the program
    surname = input("Enter surname of the author: ") #asking next input from the user if he wants to carry on

exit(0) #exiting the program at the break of the while loop

Seemly

feel free to be a critique :) – Seemly