generate a matrix of similarities between multiple files

sasanthi · 08-29-2011, 09:57 AM

Hi all,

I have four files

file1
one
two
three
four

file2
one
two
five

file3
three
four
five

file4
four
five
one
two

And I want to compare them and create a matrix with number of common lines between them, such as:
file1 file2 file3 file4
file1 0 2 2 3
file2 2 0 1 3
file3 2 1 0 2
file4 3 3 2 0

Could someone help me of writing a perl script? Can I do that quickly with awk? I tried to create arrays of arrays, but it doesn't work.

I would appreciate if you can help me.

thanks

chrism01 · 08-29-2011, 06:06 PM

Pick a language and start writing code. Do it in small steps i.e. don't try to do the whole thing straight away.
If you get stuck, come back and show us your code; we'll help but we won't do it for you.
If you choose Perl (a fine lang), here are some very good links:
http://perldoc.perl.org/
http://www.perlmonks.org/?node=Tutorials

Good Luck