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