entity-predictor

Entity Predictor

A lightweight, Zero Dependency Node.js library for entity name prediction and normalization.

It uses fuzzy matching to identify entities from messy input, supporting:

• Aliases & Acronyms (e.g., "SBI" -> "STATE BANK OF INDIA")
• Confidence Scoring ("Trustable", "High Confidence", etc.)
• Top-N Matches (Get the top 3 best guesses)
• Configurable Stop Words (Ignore "The", "Inc", etc.)

Features

• Fuzzy Matching: Matches inputs to entities even with typos or partial names.
• Alias Support: Handles acronyms (e.g., "SBI" -> "STATE BANK OF INDIA") and alternative names.
• Confidence Scoring: Returns a confidence score and a human-readable trust level ("Trustable", "High", "Moderate").
• Normalization: Automatically normalizes input to ignore case and special characters.

Installation

npm install entity-predictor

Usage

1. Import and Initialize

You can initialize the predictor with a list of entities. Entities can be simple strings or objects defining aliases.

import { EntityPredictor } from "entity-predictor";

const entities = [
  // Simple string entity
  "ICICI BANK",
  "AXIS BANK",

  // Entity with aliases
  {
    name: "STATE BANK OF INDIA",
    aliases: ["SBI", "State Bank", "S.B.I."],
  },
  {
    name: "HDFC BANK",
    aliases: ["HDFC", "Housing Development Finance Corporation"],
  },
];

const predictor = new EntityPredictor(entities);

2. Predict Entities

Use the predict() method to find the best match for an input string.

const result = predictor.predict("sbi");

console.log(result);
/*
Output:
{
  entity: "STATE BANK OF INDIA",
  confidence: 1,
  confidenceLevel: "Trustable",
  input: "sbi"
}
*/

Handling Typos

const result = predictor.predict("icici bk");

console.log(result);
/*
Output:
{
  entity: "ICICI BANK",
  confidence: 0.71,
  confidenceLevel: "Moderate Confidence"
}
*/

3. Top-N Matches

Get a list of best matches instead of just one.

const results = predictor.predictTop("Apple", 3);
// Returns array of matches: [{ entity: "Apple Inc", ... }, ...]

4. Handling Ambiguity (isAmbiguous)

Sometimes, an input matches multiple entities with the exact same confidence score. For example, "UCO" could match "UCO Bank", "Union Commercial Bank", etc.

The result object includes an isAmbiguous flag to warn you.

const result = predictor.predict("uco");

if (result.isAmbiguous) {
  console.warn("Ambiguous input! Found multiple candidates.");
  // Use predictTop to show options to the user
  const options = predictor.predictTop("uco", 5);
  console.log(options);
} else {
  console.log("Found:", result.entity);
}

5. Stop Words Filtering

Automatically remove noise words like "The", "Inc", "Ltd". Disabled by default.

// Enable with default list
const predictor = new EntityPredictor(entities, { ignoreStopWords: true });

// Enable with custom list
const predictor = new EntityPredictor(entities, {
  ignoreStopWords: true,
  stopWords: ["inc", "co", "corp"],
});

6. Custom Normalization

Pass a custom normalizer to clean data your way.

const predictor = new EntityPredictor(entities, {
  normalizer: (text) => text.toUpperCase(),
});

7. Redis Datasets Support

Load entities directly from a Redis source (requires your own redis client).

import Redis from "ioredis"; // or any redis client
import { EntityPredictor } from "entity-predictor";

const redis = new Redis();
const predictor = new EntityPredictor(); // Start empty or with some local entities

// Load from a Redis String (JSON)
// Key content: '["Apple", {"name": "Google", "aliases": ["Alphabet"]}]'
await predictor.loadFromRedis(redis, { key: "my_entities", type: "json" });

// Load from a Redis Set
// Key content: SMEMBERS -> ["Tesla", "SpaceX"]
await predictor.loadFromRedis(redis, { key: "my_set_key", type: "set" });

// Load from a Redis Hash
// Key content: HGETALL -> { "Amazon": '["AWS"]', "Netflix": "FLIX" }
await predictor.loadFromRedis(redis, { key: "my_hash_key", type: "hash" });

8. Add Entities Dynamically

You can add new entities to an existing predictor instance.

predictor.addEntity("PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK", ["PNB"]);

API Reference

new EntityPredictor(entities, options)

• entities: Array of strings or objects { name: string, aliases: string[] }.
• options: (Optional)
  • ignoreStopWords: boolean (default false)
  • stopWords: string[] (optional, defaults to internal list)
  • normalizer: (text: string) => string
• Throws: TypeError if entities is not an array.

predict(input, threshold)

• input: String to search for.
• threshold: (Optional) Minimum confidence score (default 0.6).
• Returns: Best match object { entity: string, confidence: number, input: string, isAmbiguous: boolean, ... }, { entity: "UNKNOWN", ... } if no match found, or null if input is invalid.

predictTop(input, limit, threshold)

• limit: Max number of results (default 5).
• Returns: Array of match objects.

Typescript Support

Includes index.d.ts for full TypeScript support.