Soundex Algorithm

Soundex is a phonetic algorithm for indexing names by sound as pronounced in English, designed so that homophones are encoded to the same representation and can be matched despite minor differences in spelling. The algorithm mainly encodes consonants; a vowel is not encoded unless it is the first letter. Soundex is the most widely known of the phonetic algorithms, in part because it is a standard feature of popular database software including IBM Db2, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, Ingres, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, ClickHouse, Snowflake and SAP ASE, and improvements to Soundex form the basis of many modern phonetic algorithms.