note 9928 deleted from function.soundex by jimw

SOUNDEX is particularly useful when dealing with a database that also has this function. ORACLE and InterBase as well as many others support. Instead of having the database convert both sides, like: $stmt = "SELECT * FROM STAFF WHERE SOUNDEX ( FIRST_NM ) = SOUNDEX ( 'Coupland' ) ;" ; You could let PHP do one side, like: $stmt = "SELECT * FROM STAFF WHERE SOUNDEX ( FIRST_NM ) = " . soundex ( 'Coupland' ) . " ;" ; Thereby taking half the load even though it’s really doesn’t take much load in the first place.