[vox-tech] Matching Contents of Lists

[Jay Strauss]

> 
> Examples of matching:
> 
> TALL0047A    TALL047A    match
> TALL0047A    TAL0047A	    not a match
> TALL0047A    TAL0470A	    not a match
> 
> 
> The contents will always be one to four alpha characters followed by one
> to four numeric characters possibly followed by one or two alpha
> characters.
> 
> A match would be defined as the following criteria being met:
> 
> - The last one to four digits being identical (excluding leading zeroes)
> - The first one to four letters being identical

I think your rules need more flushing out because based on your rules 
you can get many entries in list 1 to match a single entry in list 2

 > TALL0047A    TALL047A    match
 > TALL0047A    TAL0047A	    not a match

Based on your rules above, TALL0047A and TAL0047A do in fact match

Are you really saying:

 From both items
remove trailing alphas
take the last 4 digits
remove any leading zeros
if the remaining digits match from both items move on to the front of 
the string
if the leading alphas match (i.e. have the same length and same 
sequence) then you have a full match

Do the strings always start with alphas? Or are there sometimes numerics 
within the first 1-4 characters?

Is there stuff between the leading and ending portions, such that the 
entries may be more than 10 characters long?


Jay