Approximate String Matching by Fuzzy Automata

Abstract

We explain new ways of constructing search algorithms us-ing fuzzy sets and fuzzy automata. This technique can be used to search or match strings in special cases when some pairs of symbols are more similar to each other than the others. This kind of similarity can't be handled by usual searching algorithms. We present sample situations, which would use this kind of searching. Then we define a fuzzy automa-ton, and some basic constructions we need for our purposes. We continue with definition of our fuzzy automaton based approximate string match-ing algorithm, and add some notes to fuzzy–trellis construction which can be used for approximate searching.