Text difference algorithm

Question

I need an algorithm that can compare two text files and highlight their difference and ( even better!) can compute their difference in a meaningful way (like two similar fi

Answer 1

There are a number of distance metrics, as paradoja mentioned there is the Levenshtein distance, but there is also NYSIIS and Soundex. In terms of Python implementations, I have used py-editdist and ADVAS before. Both are nice in the sense that you get a single number back as a score. Check out ADVAS first, it implements a bunch of algorithms.