soundex (!)

Use the soundex (!) operator to expand queries to include words that have similar sounds; that is, words that sound like other words.

This function enables comparison of words that are spelled differently, but sound alike in English. The SOUNDEX operator algorithm uses heuristic methods, so results may vary based on your query words.

Syntax

Syntax	Description
!term	Expands a query to include all terms that sound the same as the specified term (English-language text only).

Example for Soundex (!) Operator

SELECT ID, COMMENT FROM EMP_RESUME
WHERE CONTAINS (COMMENT, '!SMYTHE') > 0 ;

ID COMMENT
-- ------------
23 Smith is a hard worker who..

Language

Soundex works best for languages that use a 7-bit character set, such as English. It can be used, with lesser effectiveness, for languages that use an 8-bit character set, such as many Western European languages.

If you have base-letter conversion specified for a text column and the query expression contains a soundex operator, then Oracle Text operates on the base-letter form of the query.