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Comparison: Exact String Match

The Exact String Match comparison is a simple comparison that determines whether or not two String values match.

Use

Use the Exact String Match comparison to find exact matches for 2 values for a String identifier. The Exact String Match comparison is often used as the top match rule in a decision table, such that all exact matches are found first, before specifying rules to find partial matches. Also, it may be used in conjunction with one or more transformation functions to find matches between values that are only the same after they have been transformed, such as "IBM" and "International Business Machines" will match using Exact String Match if a Generate Initials transformation function is used.

This comparison does not support the use of result bands.

Options

Option

Type

Purpose

Default Value

Match No Data pairs?

Yes/No

This option determines the result of a comparison when it compares two No Data (Null, or containing only whitespace characters) values for an identifier.

If set to No, the comparison will give a 'no data' result when comparing a No Data value against another No Data value.

If set to Yes, the comparison will give a full match (TRUE) when comparing a No Data value against another No Data value. A 'no data' result will only be returned if a No Data value is compared against a populated value.

Ignore case?

Yes/No

Sets whether or not to ignore case when comparing values.

For example, if case is ignored, "Oracle Corporation" will match "ORACLE CORPORATION", which otherwise would not match.

Yes

Example

Example configuration

The Exact String Match comparison is being used to match company names. The following options are specified:

Match No Data pairs? = Yes

Ignore case? = Yes

The following transformations are added:

Upper Case
Trim Whitespace
Strip Words, using a list of company suffixes (which includes the following entries: LTD, LIMITED)

Example results

With the above configuration of the Exact String Match comparison, the following table illustrates some comparison results:

Note that if either value is empty, or if both values are empty, the comparison returns a 'No Data' result.

Value A	Value B	Comparison result
Oracle	ORACLE	TRUE (match)
Price Waterhouse Coopers	PriceWaterhouseCoopers	TRUE (match)
Oracle Ltd	Oracle	TRUE (match)
Oracle Limited	Oracle Ltd	TRUE (match)
John Smith	John Smith	TRUE (match)
Oracle	Oralce	FALSE (no match)
John Smith	John A. Smith	FALSE (no match)
PWC	Price Waterhouse Coopers	FALSE (no match)
George & Sons Construction	George & Sons Confectioners	FALSE (no match)
Null	Oracle	no data
Null	Null	TRUE (match)