sub soundex {    # return soundex code
 my($useword) = $_[0];
 my($result) = "0000";
 my($idx,$prev,$perhaps,$thechar);
  
 $useword =~ tr/ //d;   # rid spaces
 $useword = lc($useword);   # lower-case for consistency
 if (length($useword) < 1) {
   return($result);
 }
  
 $result = substr($useword,0,1);   # first letter
 $prev = "0";
 $idx = 1;   
 while ($idx <= length($useword)) {
   $perhaps = "0";
   $thechar = substr($useword,$idx - 1,1);
   if (index("bfpv",    $thechar) >= 0) { $perhaps = "1"; }
   if (index("cgjkqsxz",$thechar) >= 0) { $perhaps = "2"; }
   if (index("dt",      $thechar) >= 0) { $perhaps = "3"; }
   if (index("l",       $thechar) >= 0) { $perhaps = "4"; }
   if (index("mn",      $thechar) >= 0) { $perhaps = "5"; }
   if (index("r",       $thechar) >= 0) { $perhaps = "6"; }
   if ($perhaps != $prev && $perhaps != "0"
      && $idx != 1)  {   # avoid dups and ignore first
     $result .= $perhaps;
   }
   $prev = $perhaps;
   $idx++;
 } #endwhile
  
 $result .= "0000";   # pad with zeros to ensure min length
 $result = substr($result,0,4);  # only return first four
 return($result);
}