Question

I am trying to learn F#. And I need som help with a simple soundex expression.
I am using the following ruleset for Simplified (also called American) soundex:

1.) Assign characters to classes
2.) Remove duplicate values here, e.g. 222 becomes 2  
3.) Replace first encoded char with first char  
4.) Remove nulls
5.) Truncate ot pad to totally 4 characters

Currently I am stuck on rule no. 2. I was thinking of using a recursive expression.
As I am currently a n00b on F# I will try to ask you for an elegant solution to my problem.Maybe my entire approach to translate text to soundex is off target?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated 🙂

Here is my code:

let Simplified (name:string) =
let ca = name.ToLower().ToCharArray()
new string(
    Array.map(
        fun e ->
        match e with                                                          
            | 'a' | 'e' | 'i' | 'o' | 'u' | 'y' | 'w' | 'h' -> '0'
            | 'b' | 'f' | 'p' | 'v'                         -> '1'
            | 'c' | 's' | 'k' | 'g' | 'j' | 'q' | 'x' | 'z' -> '2'
            | 'd' | 't'                                     -> '3'
            | 'l'                                           -> '4'
            | 'm' | 'n'                                     -> '5'
            | 'r'                                           -> '6'
            |  _                                            -> ' '
        )  ca
  //|> fun s -> TODO: Remove duplicates here
    |> fun s -> Array.set s 0 (ca.[0]) 
                Array.choose(fun e -> if e <> '0' then Some(e) else None) s   
)  
|> fun s -> (
            match s.Length with                                               
                | x when x < 3 -> s.PadRight(4, '0')
                | _ -> s.Substring(0, 4)
            ).ToUpper()

Answer 1

Seq.fold is your friend.

let soundex (text : string) = 
    let choose = 
        function 
        | 'b' | 'f' | 'p' | 'v' -> Some "1" 
        | 'c' | 'g' | 'j' | 'k' | 'q' | 's' | 'x' | 'z' -> Some "2" 
        | 'd' | 't' -> Some "3" 
        | 'l' -> Some"4" 
        | 'm' | 'n'  -> Some "5"
        | 'r' -> Some "6"
        | _ -> None 

    let fold state value = 
        match state with
        | i :: _ when i = value -> state
        | _ -> value :: state

    let t = text.Substring(1).ToLower() |> Seq.choose choose |> Seq.fold fold [] |> Seq.toList |> List.rev |> String.concat ""

    text.Substring(0,1) + t.PadRight(3, '0').Substring(0, 3)

This is based on the wikipedia article for soundex.