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title DIFFERENCE (Transact-SQL)
description DIFFERENCE returns an integer value measuring the difference between the SOUNDEX values of two different character expressions.
author markingmyname
ms.author maghan
ms.reviewer randolphwest
ms.date 01/21/2025
ms.service sql
ms.subservice t-sql
ms.topic reference
ms.custom
ignite-2025
f1_keywords
DIFFERENCE
DIFFERENCE_TSQL
helpviewer_keywords
DIFFERENCE function
comparing SOUNDEX values
SOUNDEX values
dev_langs
TSQL
monikerRange >=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric || =fabric-sqldb

DIFFERENCE (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb]

This function returns an integer value measuring the difference between the SOUNDEX() values of two different character expressions.

:::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

DIFFERENCE ( character_expression , character_expression )

Arguments

character_expression

An alphanumeric expression of character data. character_expression can be a constant, variable, or column.

Return types

int

Remarks

DIFFERENCE compares two different SOUNDEX values, and returns an integer value. This value measures the degree that the SOUNDEX values match, on a scale of 0 to 4. A value of 0 indicates weak or no similarity between the SOUNDEX values; 4 indicates strongly similar, or even identically matching, SOUNDEX values.

DIFFERENCE and SOUNDEX have collation sensitivity.

Examples

The first part of this example compares the SOUNDEX values of two very similar strings. For a Latin1_General collation, DIFFERENCE returns a value of 4. The second part of the example compares the SOUNDEX values for two very different strings, and for a Latin1_General collation, DIFFERENCE returns a value of 0.

A. Return a DIFFERENCE value of 4, the least possible difference

SELECT SOUNDEX('Green'),
       SOUNDEX('Greene'),
       DIFFERENCE('Green', 'Greene');
GO

[!INCLUDE ssResult]

----- ----- -----------
G650  G650  4

B. Return a DIFFERENCE value of 0, the highest possible difference

SELECT SOUNDEX('Blotchet-Halls'),
       SOUNDEX('Greene'),
       DIFFERENCE('Blotchet-Halls', 'Greene');
GO

[!INCLUDE ssResult]

----- ----- -----------
B432  G650  0

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