leven

What is leven?

The leven npm package is a JavaScript library for measuring the difference between two strings. It uses the Levenshtein distance algorithm to calculate the minimum number of single-character edits (insertions, deletions, or substitutions) required to change one word into the other. This can be particularly useful in applications that need to perform fuzzy matching, spell checking, or any scenario where determining how similar two strings are is necessary.

What are leven's main functionalities?

Calculate Levenshtein distance

This feature allows you to calculate the Levenshtein distance between two strings, which is the number of edits needed to transform one string into the other. The code sample demonstrates how to use the leven package to find the distance between 'kitten' and 'sitting', which is 3.

"const leven = require('leven');\nconsole.log(leven('kitten', 'sitting')); // 3"

Other packages similar to leven

fast-levenshtein

This package provides a fast implementation of the Levenshtein distance algorithm. It is optimized for performance and can be faster than leven in some cases. However, leven is known for its simplicity and ease of use, making it a preferred choice for straightforward applications.

fuzzyset.js

Fuzzyset.js is a more comprehensive library for fuzzy string matching. It not only calculates the Levenshtein distance but also provides additional functionality for finding close matches within a set of strings. Compared to leven, it offers a broader set of features for applications that require more than just distance calculation.

string-similarity

This package compares two strings and returns a score based on their similarity. It includes a method to find the best match in an array of strings. While leven focuses solely on calculating the Levenshtein distance, string-similarity provides a more nuanced approach to comparing string similarity, making it suitable for applications that need to rank multiple potential matches.

README

leven

Measure the difference between two strings using the Levenshtein distance algorithm

Install

$ npm install leven

Usage

import leven from 'leven';

leven('cat', 'cow');
//=> 2

Related

• leven-cli - CLI for this module

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