DIFFERENCE (Transact-SQL)

Article
05/23/2023

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL Endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric

This function returns an integer value measuring the difference between the SOUNDEX() values of two different character expressions.

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

DIFFERENCE ( character_expression , character_expression )

Note

To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 and earlier, see Previous versions documentation.

Arguments

character_expression
An alphanumeric expression of character data. character_expression can be a constant, variable, or column.

Return Types

int

Remarks

DIFFERENCE compares two different SOUNDEX values, and returns an integer value. This value measures the degree that the SOUNDEX values match, on a scale of 0 to 4. A value of 0 indicates weak or no similarity between the SOUNDEX values; 4 indicates strongly similar, or even identically matching, SOUNDEX values.

DIFFERENCE and SOUNDEX have collation sensitivity.

Examples

The first part of this example compares the SOUNDEX values of two very similar strings. For a Latin1_General collation, DIFFERENCE returns a value of 4. The second part of the example compares the SOUNDEX values for two very different strings, and for a Latin1_General collation, DIFFERENCE returns a value of 0.

-- Returns a DIFFERENCE value of 4, the least possible difference.  
SELECT SOUNDEX('Green'), SOUNDEX('Greene'), DIFFERENCE('Green','Greene');  
GO  
-- Returns a DIFFERENCE value of 0, the highest possible difference.  
SELECT SOUNDEX('Blotchet-Halls'), SOUNDEX('Greene'), DIFFERENCE('Blotchet-Halls', 'Greene');  
GO

Here is the result set.

----- ----- -----------   
G650  G650  4             
  
(1 row(s) affected)  
  
----- ----- -----------   
B432  G650  0             
  
(1 row(s) affected)