Fuzzy Matching: Matching Inconsistent Phone Numbers in Power Query

/in /by

Excel Putting it All Together:
https://courses.xelplus.com/p/excel-app-from-scratch
This video digs into the new Fuzzy Match options in Power Query. In a previous video we looked at names. Here, we look at phone numbers and how Fuzzy Matching attempts to match inconsistent phone numbers. Example:

1 (717) 338-2741
717-388-2741
717.388.2741
7173882741

These are all legitimate variations on the same phone number. Without fuzzy matching in Excel or Power Query, to match these we’d have to clean them up and get them consistent before attempting a merge, join or match.

Power Query’s fuzzy matching does a good job but it takes some fiddling with the threshold percentage. But there’s a warning! Fuzzy matching is based on percentages and likelihood. It can get a lot right and it can get a lot wrong. BE CAREFUL!

#LeftOuterJoin
#FuzzyMatching
#Matching

For an intro to Get & Transform (Power Query) try my Lynda/LinkedIn course:
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/oz-du-soleil?trk=insiders_28299411_learning
Website: https://ozdusoleil.com

My book: Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition

My old blog: http://datascopic.net/blog-2-2