Group together records with similar text fields

[facciazzi]

Hello all,

I have a DB which is open to input for a lot of users. Users can input one record for each specific event they want, using a PHP script.

This "event" field should have been, in designing the DB, a drop down menu built with a select statement, with all events predefined and stored in one table. However, we can't do that and we need to allow people to enter events in the form they want. In example, for the very same event three people could enter:

Super-Duper music festival
Super duper music festival
Superduper musicfestival

Now, what I would like to do is running some script every hour that takes all the records not "fixed" yet and make the consistent. Those three records above would all become "Super Duper Music Festival". That way, a SELECT DISTINCT query would work correctly on the table.

Now, is there any way I can do this in MySQL and/or with PHP? I can have single events being fixed manually, but I would still definitely need some kind of query/PHP script that tells me wich records have similar "events" fields, so that I can then enter the correct name for all of them.

Hope I explained correctly the matter, thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

[barand]

Both php and mySQL have soundex functions

$sndx = soundex('super duper music festival');

$query = "select event from table where SOUNDEX(event) = '$sndx' ";

hth

[facciazzi]

Thank you very much. I dind't think about string functions, shame on me.