Measuring the similarity between two strings

To check whether two files are identical, we utilize standard cryptographic hash functions, such as SHA256 and MD5. However, at times, we would like to also know to what extent two files are similar. For that purpose, we utilize similarity hashing algorithms. The one we will be demonstrating here is ssdeep.

First, let's see how to use ssdeep to compare two strings. This can be useful to detect tampering in a text or script and also plagiarism.

Getting ready

Preparation for this recipe consists of installing the ssdeep package in pip. The installation is a little tricky and does not always work on Windows. Instructions can be found at https://python-ssdeep.readthedocs.io...