How to detect a typo in a product search and suggest possible corrections?

Question

Given a very large database of product names, how would you detect possible typos in user searches and suggest possible corrections (Kinda like the way Google presents them)?

Answer 1

You could use a phonetic algorithm, such as Soundex to find matches that sound similar.

PostgreSQL has a module named fuzzystrmatch, with the docs showing examples of using Soundex, Levenshtein, Metaphone, and Double Metaphone.