How do I compare two sets of numerical strings character by character on Matlab ?

I want to compare two sets of numerical data character by character e.g.

1011101 and 1011000

so that matlab will show that the 5 and 7th characters are different (0000101). I want to then count the number of differences (2).

If the terminology I use is wrong, please ignore that and focus on the example I have given to communicate what I want to do.

[José-Luis]

Is your data a string or a number?

[Hannah]

It's currently saved as numbers on a excel spreadsheet.

[José-Luis]

To import excel data to Matlab:

 doc xlsread

A somewhat faster option:

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/94822

[Hannah]

Thanks,

I'm having some trouble though because the numbers are too long so if I use xlsread, the number is coming up as NaN. Any ideas on how to solve this?

p.s. I managed to upload the file as a cvs manually, but then Matlab is having trouble processing the logical array ~=

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

Using MATLAB binary operations (considering the inputs — a and b here — are numbers:

a = 1011101;
b = 1011000;

A = num2str(a,'%d')
B = num2str(b,'%d')

ai = int16(bin2dec(A))
bi = int16(bin2dec(B))

C = dec2bin(bitxor(ai,bi))

HamDist = length(findstr(C,'1'))        % Hamming Distance

produces:

HamDist =

       2

What you want is known as the Hamming Distance between two binary numbers.

Answer 2

[Jos (10584)]

a = '1011101'
b = '1011000'

q = a~=b % a logical array, true for locations where a and b differ

n = nnz(q) % count the number of non zeros (true)

[Hannah]

I get an error :

Undefined function 'ne' for input arguments of type 'cell'

[Image Analyst]

You did something wrong. I copied and pasted and ran it with no errors whatsoever. How did you edit it to break it?

[Hannah]

nvm, I managed to solve the problem :) I was trying to apply it to a different, longer set of numbers

[Hannah]

Thanks :) I accidentally clicked on the other answer but THIS IS THE ANSWER I USED

[Star Strider]

Thank you anyway!

[Sagar Damle]

Hannah,though you have accidentally clicked on Star's answer,now you can vote for Jos by clicking on '0 votes' written below Noddy's picture!This will add two points to Jos's reputation!

[Jos (10584)]

Thanks Sagar, especially for recognising Noddy! I do not care so much about reputation anymore, but I like feedback.