Approximate string matching, also called fuzzy string searching, is the technique of finding text that is similar to a target pattern even when it does not match exactly. It is used for tasks such as typo tolerance, record linkage, spell checking, entity matching, and searching within dictionaries or longer strings.
(Also fuzzy string searching.) The technique of finding strings that match a pattern approximately (rather than exactly). The problem of approximate string matching is typically divided into two sub-problems: finding approximate substring matches inside a given string and finding dictionary strings that match the pattern approximately.