This is not as expensive as you probably think. Assume 
Compaq Presario Laptop Model No P440 L100 Series (PSLA0L-00U00E)

[download]
... as input -> 
00
440
100
Compaq
Laptop
Model
No
Presario
Series
PSLA

[download]
Then we need todo something like this: 
...
# get vendor id:
SELECT id FROM vendor WHERE NAME=00 or NAME=440 ...

# check all words
foreach (@word) {
  SELECT product_id FROM words WHERE vendor_id=? and word=?
  for my $id (@ids)
    $cnt{$id}++
  }
}

[download]
How you then analyze this match statistic depends on the data. But the editdistance is probably the wrong metric, you are right.

In reply to Re^4: Help required in RE strategy by lima1
in thread Help required in RE strategy by Anonymous Monk

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