Question

I am trying to implement searching a set of multiple words which include multiple parts.
For example, we have these medical terminologies.

R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE
R Distal JointCapsule 1 GEODE
R Dorsal Calcaneocuboid Ligament GEODE
R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE
R Dorsal Cuboideavicular Ligament GEODE
R Dorsal Tarsometatarsal Ligament 5 GEODE
R Elbow Capsule GEODE
R F Distal JointCapsule 1 GEODE
R Fibular Collateral Bursa GEODE
R Fibular Collateral Ligament GEODE
R Fibular Ligament GEODE

User can enter search terms like this:

e.g., “R De Me Li” then this should find “R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE”

e.g., “Fi Colla” ==> “R Fibular Collateral Bursa GEODE”, “R Fibular Collateral Ligament GEODE”

e.g., “bow ODE” ==> “R Elbow Capsule GEODE”

That is, even when user enters some portions of a word, it should find the answers.
If there are multiple answers, it should show all.
I appreciate your help in advance.

Added) Oh.. I forgot something.

e.g., “ral lar” ==> It shouldn’t show “R Fibular Collateral Bursa GEODE” or “R Fibular Collateral Ligament GEODE” since the order of query words should be considered.

In addition, the spaces among the query words mean different words of each line (database).

The order of query words should be the same as the words of each line (database),
but the query words could be shorter than the database words.

e.g., “R De Me 4” ==> “R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE”
Where we can see that ‘Metatarsal’ and ‘Ligament’ include ‘me’, but the first match with ‘Metatarsal’ is fine, and 4 will be searched.

In addition, different combinations of query words can return the same result.

e,g.,

‘Car’ ==> ‘R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE’

‘Do Car’ ==> ‘R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE’

‘R Do Carp’ ==> ‘R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE’

Note: no case-sensitive.

Answer 1

You can do this with difflib in the standard distribution:

import difflib

s="""R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE
R Distal JointCapsule 1 GEODE
R Dorsal Calcaneocuboid Ligament GEODE
R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE
R Dorsal Cuboideavicular Ligament GEODE
R Dorsal Tarsometatarsal Ligament 5 GEODE
R Elbow Capsule GEODE
R F Distal JointCapsule 1 GEODE
R Fibular Collateral Bursa GEODE
R Fibular Collateral Ligament GEODE
R Fibular Ligament GEODE""".split('\n')

qs="""R De Me Li
Fi Colla
bow ODE""".split('\n')

for q in qs:
    print "results for '{}':".format(q)
    matches=difflib.get_close_matches(q,s,3,0.3)
    for i,e in enumerate(matches,1):
        print "\t{}. {}".format(i,e)

Prints:

results for 'R De Me Li':
    1. R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE
    2. R Dorsal Calcaneocuboid Ligament GEODE
    3. R Dorsal Cuboideavicular Ligament GEODE
results for 'Fi Colla':
    1. R Fibular Collateral Bursa GEODE
    2. R Fibular Collateral Ligament GEODE
results for 'bow ODE':
    1. R Elbow Capsule GEODE

Combining with cblab’s answer on combining regex’s with difflib, you can get this:

s="""R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE
R Distal JointCapsule 1 GEODE
R Dorsal Calcaneocuboid Ligament GEODE
R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE
R Dorsal Cuboideavicular Ligament GEODE
R Dorsal Tarsometatarsal Ligament 5 GEODE
R Elbow Capsule GEODE
R F Distal JointCapsule 1 GEODE
R Fibular Collateral Bursa GEODE
R Fibular Collateral Ligament GEODE
R Fibular Ligament GEODE""".split('\n')
s=set(s)
qs="""R De Me Li
Fi Colla
bow ODE
Car
Do Car
ral lar
R De Me 4
R Do Carp""".split('\n')

for q in sorted(qs):
    print "results for '{}':".format(q)
    pattern = r'.*' + re.sub(r'\W', '.*', q.strip()) + '.*'
    matches=[item for item in s if re.match(pattern, item, re.I)]
    for e in difflib.get_close_matches(q,s,3,0.33):
        if e not in matches: 
            matches.append(e)

    for i,e in enumerate(matches,1):
        print "\t{}. {}".format(i,e)
    else:
        if len(matches)==0:
            print "\tNo matches"    

Prints:

results for 'Car':
    1. R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE
results for 'Do Car':
    1. R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE
results for 'Fi Colla':
    1. R Fibular Collateral Bursa GEODE
    2. R Fibular Collateral Ligament GEODE
results for 'R De Me 4':
    1. R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE
results for 'R De Me Li':
    1. R Deep Transverse Metatarsal Ligament 4 GEODE
    2. R Dorsal Calcaneocuboid Ligament GEODE
results for 'R Do Carp':
    1. R Dorsal Carpometacarpal Ligament 2 GEODE
    2. R Elbow Capsule GEODE
    3. R Distal JointCapsule 1 GEODE
results for 'bow ODE':
    1. R Elbow Capsule GEODE
results for 'ral lar':
    No matches