Comparison function properties
When adding or editing a comparison function on the Algorithms view, use this list of property names and descriptions as a reference for fields you can set in the Properties view.
- Comparison arguments
- contains arguments for comparison. If multiple arguments are required within the property string, the arguments must be comma-delimited alphanumeric sequences. The equal sign and period characters are allowed in the string.
- Comparison function code
- defines the comparison function (read-only).
- Comparison group
- allows two or more statistically-related attributes that are compared separately to be grouped together for final scoring. An example would be Address and Zip Code, which represent the same location feature. Only the maximum of these attributes contributes towards scoring, making sure related attributes are not over-weighted. The default group number is 0, which means that every comparison spec is in its own group.
- Comparison mode
- enables the algorithm usage type to be specified for the individual comparison functions employed in the algorithm. Algorithm usage types are: searching, matching and linking (default), matching and linking only, or searching only. The icon displayed depends on the comparison mode value:
Icon Description 
Use for match, link and search 
Use for match and link only 
Use for search only - Comparison specification code
- a mnemonic used by the weight generation process in defining the wgtCode values in the mpi_wgthead table (required field).
- Description
- describes the use of the comparison function within the algorithm (optional field).
- Entity Type
- identifies the entity type for which this comparison is valid.
- Equivalent string code
- use this when you want to filter based on allowable values (optional field). To add new values to the drop-down list, use the Strings view in the Advanced Interface Configuration editor. See Strings for details.
- Enable Review Identifier Task
- indicates a review identifier, either “Yes” or “No” (required).
- Kind
- visible when the Use classic functions option is disabled (see Classic or composite algorithm function names). Along with Type, the Kind determines which edit distance function is used. This property is currently specific to edit distance functions.
- Type
- visible when the Use classic functions option is disabled (see Classic or composite algorithm function names). Determines which comparison function code is used. Not all comparison functions have a type property.
- Weight table percentage cutoff
- defines a cut-off for the weight table. When generating the sval or nval weight table, typically only the most common values are listed. This parameter defines the cumulative percentage of the listed values that should be contained in the weight tables.