defmodule Leven do @moduledoc """ Compute the Levenshtein distance between two strings. The Levenshtein distance, also known as edit distance, measures the difference between two strings in terms of the minimum number of single-character edits (insertions, deletions, or substitutions) required to change one string into the other. """ @doc """ Returns the Levenshtein distance between two strings. """ @spec distance(String.t(), String.t()) :: integer() def distance(source, target) when source == target, do: 0 def distance("", target), do: String.length(target) def distance(source, ""), do: String.length(source) def distance(source, target) do source = String.graphemes(source) target = String.graphemes(target) source_len = length(source) target_len = length(target) matrix = get_distance_table(source_len, target_len) filled_matrix = process_rows(source_len, target_len, matrix, source, target) get_distance(filled_matrix, source_len, target_len) end defp get_distance_table(source_len, target_len) do first_row = Enum.reduce(0..target_len, {}, fn i, acc -> Tuple.append(acc, i) end) rest_zeros = List.duplicate(0, target_len) rest_rows = Enum.map(1..source_len, fn i -> List.to_tuple([i | rest_zeros]) end) List.to_tuple([first_row | rest_rows]) end defp process_rows(rows, columns, matrix, source, target) do Enum.reduce(1..rows, matrix, &process_columns(&1, columns, &2, source, target)) end defp process_columns(i, columns, matrix, source, target) do Enum.reduce(1..columns, matrix, &process_cell(i, &1, &2, source, target)) end defp process_cell(i, j, matrix, source, target) do source_char = Enum.at(source, i - 1) target_char = Enum.at(target, j - 1) new_cell = calculate_new_value(i, j, matrix, source_char, target_char) new_row = put_elem(elem(matrix, i), j, new_cell) put_elem(matrix, i, new_row) end defp calculate_new_value(i, j, matrix, source_char, target_char) when source_char == target_char do matrix |> elem(i - 1) |> elem(j - 1) end defp calculate_new_value(i, j, matrix, _source_char, _target_char) do delete = (elem(matrix, i - 1) |> elem(j)) + 1 insert = (elem(matrix, i) |> elem(j - 1)) + 1 substitute = (elem(matrix, i - 1) |> elem(j - 1)) + 1 Enum.min([delete, insert, substitute]) end defp get_distance(matrix, source_len, target_len) do matrix |> elem(source_len) |> elem(target_len) end end