How to resolve the algorithm Levenshtein distance step by step in the C# programming language
How to resolve the algorithm Levenshtein distance step by step in the C# programming language
Table of Contents
Problem Statement
In information theory and computer science, the Levenshtein distance is a metric for measuring the amount of difference between two sequences (i.e. an edit distance). The Levenshtein distance between two strings is defined as the minimum number of edits needed to transform one string into the other, with the allowable edit operations being insertion, deletion, or substitution of a single character.
The Levenshtein distance between "kitten" and "sitting" is 3, since the following three edits change one into the other, and there isn't a way to do it with fewer than three edits:
The Levenshtein distance between "rosettacode", "raisethysword" is 8. The distance between two strings is same as that when both strings are reversed.
Implements a Levenshtein distance function, or uses a library function, to show the Levenshtein distance between "kitten" and "sitting".
Let's start with the solution:
Step by Step solution about How to resolve the algorithm Levenshtein distance step by step in the C# programming language
The provided C# code computes the Levenshtein distance between two given strings, s
and t
. The Levenshtein distance is a metric for measuring the similarity between two strings. It calculates the minimum number of edits (insertions, deletions, or substitutions) required to transform one string into another.
Here's a detailed breakdown of the code:
-
LevenshteinDistance Method:
- It takes two strings,
s
andt
, as input. - It initializes a two-dimensional array
d
with dimensions (n+1) x (m+1), wheren
is the length ofs
andm
is the length oft
. - It initializes the first row and column of
d
with values 0, 1, 2, ...,n
and 0, 1, 2, ...,m
, respectively. This populates the borders of the matrix with the edit distances for transforming an empty string intos
ort
. - It iterates through the matrix, starting from the second row and column, to calculate the Levenshtein distance for each pair of characters.
- If the characters at the current positions in
s
andt
are the same, no operation is needed, so it copies the value from the previous cell. - If the characters are different, it calculates the minimum edit distance among the three options:
- Deleting the character from
s
(cost:d[i - 1, j] + 1
) - Inserting the character in
t
(cost:d[i, j - 1] + 1
) - Substituting the character in
s
with the one int
(cost:d[i - 1, j - 1] + 1
)
- Deleting the character from
- It stores the minimum cost in the current cell
d[i, j]
. - Finally, it returns the value at
d[n, m]
, which represents the Levenshtein distance between the entire stringss
andt
.
- It takes two strings,
-
Main Method:
- It checks if the command-line arguments contain two strings.
- If yes, it computes and prints the Levenshtein distance between the two strings.
- If not, it displays usage instructions.
In summary, this code calculates the minimum number of edits needed to transform one string into another. It is commonly used for various applications, including spell checking, natural language processing, and bioinformatics.
Source code in the csharp programming language
using System;
namespace LevenshteinDistance
{
class Program
{
static int LevenshteinDistance(string s, string t)
{
int n = s.Length;
int m = t.Length;
int[,] d = new int[n + 1, m + 1];
if (n == 0)
{
return m;
}
if (m == 0)
{
return n;
}
for (int i = 0; i <= n; i++)
d[i, 0] = i;
for (int j = 0; j <= m; j++)
d[0, j] = j;
for (int j = 1; j <= m; j++)
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++)
if (s[i - 1] == t[j - 1])
d[i, j] = d[i - 1, j - 1]; //no operation
else
d[i, j] = Math.Min(Math.Min(
d[i - 1, j] + 1, //a deletion
d[i, j - 1] + 1), //an insertion
d[i - 1, j - 1] + 1 //a substitution
);
return d[n, m];
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
if (args.Length == 2)
Console.WriteLine("{0} -> {1} = {2}",
args[0], args[1], LevenshteinDistance(args[0], args[1]));
else
Console.WriteLine("Usage:-\n\nLevenshteinDistance <string1> <string2>");
}
}
}
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