Calculate Levenstein distance using Octave function

levenstein_distance.m

%% Levenstein Distance: calculate levenstein distance with matrix
function [distance] = levenstein_distance(x, y, output = 0)
	% initialization
	ma = zeros( size(y,2)+1, size(x,2)+1 );
	ma(1,:) = [0:size(x,2)];
	ma(:,1) = [0:size(y,2)];

	for i=2:size(ma,1)
		for j=2:size(ma,2)
			ma(i,j) = min( [ ma(i,j-1)+1, ma(i-1,j)+1, ma(i-1,j-1)+1- (y(i-1)==x(j-1)) ] );
		end
	end

	% print matrix if wanted
	if output ma end

	distance = ma(end, end);
end