Fussy matching?

  • Thread starter Thread starter scottwilsonx
  • Start date Start date
S

scottwilsonx

Hi everyone..

I have a file that I have transferred into Excel, 40000+ rows.
I have written a simple formulae to check for duplicates, based on th
surname and date of contact.

However, I have noticed that a number of entries are duplicated bu
with a slightly different spelling of the surname, and therefore m
formula has missed them.

Is there anyway in Excel of writing a sort of fussy match, where th
formulae checks for similar values with a certain confidence of succes
?

Again, thanks for your help!

Scott
 
Hi Scott,
Interesting sounding problem. Looking for variations in
spelling is a major problem!

I don't know of a way to do this using existing tools (not
to say that the tools don't exist - I just don't know),
but if you don't get any takers amongst the gurus I'd be
interested to think it through with you.

For openers I'd like to know if SameName/DifferentDate is
a dupe or not; just how much variation in name spelling is
involved and where do the variations occur; how many
misses can you tolerate before you do a manual "search and
destroy"; and how much messing around with this do you
want to do (I can foresee several iterations of trial and
error).

Post back if you're still working on this one - maybe we
can invent something! BTW - I'm not a coder - if it can't
be done using plain old functions and a bit of
imagination, I'll not be much help.

HJ
 
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