Oracle SQL column comparison

Question

I have two columns and I would like to make a comparison to find out if they are equal, the problem is when same keyword is written in different way.

For example if column_1 = 123 Maryland Ave and column_2 = 123 Maryland Avenue these two column should be equal and I would like to create a third column in the query to show if they are equal or not, thank you for your help!

Column_1                   Column_2                  Equal?
-----------------------------------------------------------
 123 Maryland Ave           123 Maryland Avenue       Yes
 456 Maryland Ave           123 Maryland Ave          No

Answer 1

One option is to check similarity between those values:

SQL> with test (id, col1, col2) as
  2    (select 1, '123 Maryland Ave', '123 Maryland Avenue' from dual union all
  3     select 2, '456 Maryland Ave', '123 Maryland Ave'    from dual
  4    )
  5  select id, col1, col2,
  6    utl_match.jaro_winkler_similarity(col1, col2) as sim
  7  from test;

        ID COL1             COL2                       SIM
---------- ---------------- ------------------- ----------
         1 123 Maryland Ave 123 Maryland Avenue         96
         2 456 Maryland Ave 123 Maryland Ave            87

SQL>

Now, you have to decide the threshold which satisfies your needs. Is it 90%? Let's suppose it is. Then you'd use CASE expression:

SQL> with test (id, col1, col2) as
  2    (select 1, '123 Maryland Ave', '123 Maryland Avenue' from dual union all
  3     select 2, '456 Maryland Ave', '123 Maryland Ave'    from dual
  4    )
  5  select id, col1, col2,
  6    case when utl_match.jaro_winkler_similarity(col1, col2) > 90 then 'Yes'
  7         else 'No'
  8    end as equal
  9  from test;

        ID COL1             COL2                EQUAL
---------- ---------------- ------------------- -------
         1 123 Maryland Ave 123 Maryland Avenue Yes
         2 456 Maryland Ave 123 Maryland Ave    No

SQL>