Hello.
I'm having a problem trying to understand how does AIML pattern matching works.
What's the difference between _ and *? And how I should use them to get the best match?
I have this document only, but it lacks some good examples.
views:
209answers:
2
A:
_ and * are both wildcards, the difference is where they should be used in pattern matching.
_ should be used before the word or phrase you're matching on
* should be used after the word or phrase you're matching on.
See: AIML spec
To understand this better it may be worth looking at examples in the existing AIML bots.
See: Downloads, this one Saluations.aiml has examples
Bravax
2009-12-03 09:43:31
So that would mean that 'HELLO _' is an invalid expression? Right?
Wolfgang
2009-12-03 10:33:31
This is what I have found in http://www.alicebot.org/aiml/aaa/Salutations.aimlWhat's the essential difference between these two patterns?<category> <pattern>* BYE</pattern> <template> OK see you later <get name="name"/>. </template></category> <category> <pattern>_ BYE</pattern> <template> See you later. <sr/> </template></category>Btw, thanks for the answer :)
Wolfgang
2009-12-03 10:41:10
I would say, based on the spec that HELLO _ is invalid yes.And that was a seriously bad example on my part. I don't think the * BYE would ever be evaluated.* BYE is in my view invalid, and should be BYE *.
Bravax
2009-12-03 10:58:57
+1
A:
A * will match anything unless a pattern of a word or several words are matched
A _ will match anything even if a pattern of a word or several words could match
<pattern>BYE _</pattern> does not make sense since <pattern>BYE *</pattern> matches the same patterns but <pattern>BYE _</pattern> will shadow <pattern>BYE * SEE YOU</pattern> whereas BYE * won't.
Use _ carefully, for example _ would match anything and your bot will give the same answer every times.
<pattern>_ A COUPLE OF WORDS *</pattern> and <pattern>_ A COUPLE OF WORDS</pattern> is the proper way to use _ if you want to catch every times A COUPLE OF WORDS is inside or at the end of a sentence.
Charlix
2009-12-17 01:53:23