Question

I want to check if a value in a multidimensional array is the same by a given percent.

For example this is my array:

$shop = array( array( Title => "rose", 
                      Price => 1.25,
                      Number => 15 
                    ),
               array( Title => "daisy", 
                      Price => 0.75,
                      Number => 25,
                    ),
               array( Title => "orchid", 
                      Price => 1.15,
                      Number => 7 
                    )
             );

and if a given value (say “testorchid”) is 55% the same as a value in the multidimensional array. Return the corresponding value in the multidimensional array and the procent that is the same.

So in this case. If i check with “testorchid”, it returns “orchid” and 55.56 procent.
A bit like similar_text(): works

I got a function that can check if given value (needle) is the same as a value in a multidimensional array:

function in_array_r($needle, $haystack, $strict = true) {
    foreach ($haystack as $item) {
        if (($strict ? $item === $needle : $item == $needle) || (is_array($item) && in_array_r($needle, $item, $strict))) {
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
    }

But it only returns true when a value is exactly the same. Not the corresponding value in the multidimensional array and not the percent of the value thats the same.

I want say something like this: If “orchidtest” is > 60% the same as a [“title”] in the multidimensional array, then give that value en the percent.

Answer 1

<?php
    $shop = array(
        array(
            'Title' => "rose",
            'Price' => 1.25,
            'Number' => 15
        ),
        array(
            'Title' => "daisy",
            'Price' => 0.75,
            'Number' => 25,
        ),
        array(
            'Title' => "orchid",
            'Price' => 1.15,
            'Number' => 7
        )
    );

    function find_similar($compare, $array, $threshold = 0)
    {
        $return = array();
        $score;
        foreach ($array as $k => $v)
        {
            similar_text($compare, $v['Title'], $score);
            if ($score >= $threshold)
            {
                $return[] = array(
                    'compared' => $compare,
                    'title' => $v['Title'],
                    'score' => number_format($score, 2)
                );
            }
        }
        usort($return, function ($a, $b)
        {
            if((double)$a['score'] == (double)$b['score'])
            {
                return 0;
            }
            return ($a['score'] < $b['score']) ? 1 : -1;
        });
        return $return;
    }

    $similar = find_similar('testorchid', $shop, 14);
?>

Gives you an array $similar sorted by the most similar, and you can specify a threshold to cut off useless values.

output of print_r($similar):

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [compared] => testorchid
            [title] => orchid
            [score] => 75.00
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [compared] => testorchid
            [title] => rose
            [score] => 14.29
        )

)

Notice that daisy has not been returned because it’s similarity fell below the threshold. For reference it’s similarity is 13.3333333r