NAME

String::Normal - Just another normal form string transformer.

SYNOPSIS

use String::Normal;

my $normalizer = String::Normal->new( type => 'business' );
print $normalizer->transform( 'Jones & Sons Bakeries' );     # bakeri jone son

$normalizer = String::Normal->new( type => 'address' );
print $normalizer->transform( '123 Main Street Suite A47' ); # 123 main st

$normalizer = String::Normal->new( type => 'phone' );
print $normalizer->transform( '(818) 423-7750' );            # 8184237750

$normalizer = String::Normal->new( type => 'city' );
print $normalizer->transform( 'Los Angeles' );               # los angeles

$normalizer = String::Normal->new( type => 'state' );
print $normalizer->transform( 'California' );                # ca

$normalizer = String::Normal->new( type => 'zip' );
print $normalizer->transform( '90292' );                     # 90292

DESCRIPTION

THIS MODULE IS AN ALPHA RELEASE!

Transform strings into a normal form. Performs tokenization, snowball stemming, stop word removal and complex name compression.

METHODS

new( %params )
my $normalizer = String::Normal->new( %params );

Constructs object. Accepts the following named parameters:

  • type

    Available types: business, address, phone, city, state, zip and title. Defaults to business.

    my $normalizer = String::Normal->new( type => 'title' );
  • various configuration overides

    See "TYPE CLASSES" for more information.

transform( $word )
my $scalar = $normalizer->transform( 'Alien 1979 1080p.avi' );

Normalizes word based on given type.

TYPE CLASSES

Consider the following values:

Bary & Sons' Bakery
Bary's & Sons Bakeries
Bary's and Sons' Bakeries

These are business names as potentialy found in business listings. When each of these values is passed to transform() the return value will be "bakeri bari son." This is accomplished by a number of transformation rules, found in the respective Type class.

  • String::Normal::Type::Business

    Rules for business name listings, such as "Bary's Bakery". Provides business_stem, business_stop and business_compress data overides:

    my $normalizer = String::Normal->new( business_stem => '/path/to/stem.txt' );
  • String::Normal::Type::Address

    Rules for business address listings, such as "123 Main Street Suite A". Provides address_stem and address_stop data overides:

    my $normalizer = String::Normal->new(
        type          => 'address',
        business_stem => '/path/to/stem.txt',
    );
  • String::Normal::Type::City

    Rules for names of cities.

  • String::Normal::Type::State

    Rules for US and Canadian state codes.

  • String::Normal::Type::Zip

    Rules for US and Canadian zip codes.

  • String::Normal::Type::Phone

    Rules for US area and exchange phone codes. Provides area_codes data overides:

    my $normalizer = String::Normal->new(
        type       => 'phone',
        area_codes => '/path/to/codes.txt',
    );
  • String::Normal::Type::Title

    Rules for movie, film and television show titles. Provides title_stem and title_stop data overides:

    my $normalizer = String::Normal->new(
        type       => 'title',
        title_stop => '/path/to/stop-words.txt',
    );

The movitation for such transformation is to identify duplicates when combining multiple digest feeds into a master feed. This transformation (called normalization here) was designed with the need to identify and match duplicate business listings, but can be used to match duplicated from other sources as well, such as movie, film and television show titles.

Each type uses data found in a respective Config class.

CONFIG CLASSES

Business

Business values are first compressed, then stemmed via Lingua::Stem (with customizations) and finally stop worded.

Address

Address values are first stemmed with a simple substitution and then finally stop worded.

Title

Title values are stop worded first, then stemmed via Lingua::Stem.

State

Phone

All Config classes can be overriden by specifying your own custom text files.

CLI TOOLS

  • normalizer

    Quickly transform values without writing a script:

    $ normalizer --value='Jones & Sons Bakeries'
    
    $ normalizer --value='Los Angeles' --type='city'
    
    $ normalizer --file=addresses.txt --type=address

AUTHOR

Jeff Anderson, <jeffa at cpan.org>

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

Documentation is currently light and needs to be expanded.

Please report any bugs or feature requests to either:

I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

perldoc String::Normal

The Github project is https://github.com/jeffa/String-Normal

You can also look for information at:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The following people contributed algorithms and strategies in addition to the author. Thank you very much! :)

  • Gauthier Groult

  • Christophe Louvion

  • Virginie Louvion

  • Ana Martinez

  • Ray Toal

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2024 Jeff Anderson.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the the Artistic License (2.0). You may obtain a copy of the full license at:

http://www.perlfoundation.org/artistic_license_2_0

Any use, modification, and distribution of the Standard or Modified Versions is governed by this Artistic License. By using, modifying or distributing the Package, you accept this license. Do not use, modify, or distribute the Package, if you do not accept this license.

If your Modified Version has been derived from a Modified Version made by someone other than you, you are nevertheless required to ensure that your Modified Version complies with the requirements of this license.

This license does not grant you the right to use any trademark, service mark, tradename, or logo of the Copyright Holder.

This license includes the non-exclusive, worldwide, free-of-charge patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import and otherwise transfer the Package with respect to any patent claims licensable by the Copyright Holder that are necessarily infringed by the Package. If you institute patent litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim) against any party alleging that the Package constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then this Artistic License to you shall terminate on the date that such litigation is filed.

Disclaimer of Warranty: THE PACKAGE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES. THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY YOUR LOCAL LAW. UNLESS REQUIRED BY LAW, NO COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTOR WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THE PACKAGE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.