text.levenshtein

Description

Computes the Levenshtein edit distance between two strings. The edit distance is the minimum number of single-character edits (insertions, deletions, or substitutions) required to change one string into another. This is useful for fuzzy string matching, spell checking, and finding similar records.

Syntax 

flex.text.levenshtein(string1, string2)

Parameters

Parameter Type Required Description
string1 string Yes The first string to compare
string2 string Yes The second string to compare

Returns

Type: number (integer)

The minimum number of single-character edits needed to transform string1 into string2. Returns 0 if the strings are identical.

Examples

Example 1: Basic String Comparison 

// Compare two similar strings
RETURN flex.text.levenshtein('kitten', 'sitting') AS distance

Output:

distance
--------
3

Example 2: Finding Similar User Names 

// Find users with names similar to "Sarah" within edit distance of 2
MATCH (u:User)
WHERE flex.text.levenshtein(u.name, 'Sarah') <= 2
RETURN u.name, u.email, flex.text.levenshtein(u.name, 'Sarah') AS distance
ORDER BY distance

Example 3: Fuzzy Matching with Multiple Candidates 

// Find the closest matching product name
WITH 'iPhone' AS search_term
MATCH (p:Product)
WITH p, flex.text.levenshtein(p.name, search_term) AS distance
WHERE distance <= 3
RETURN p.name, distance
ORDER BY distance
LIMIT 5

Notes

  • Handles null values gracefully by treating them as empty strings
  • The function is symmetric: levenshtein(a, b) = levenshtein(b, a)
  • Empty strings return the length of the non-empty string as distance
  • Two null values return distance of 0
  • Optimized for performance with memory-efficient implementation
  • Case-sensitive comparison (use toLower() if case-insensitive matching is needed)

See Also