count number of shifts in data based on conditions

I am trying to write an if statement that counts how many times a shift in data occurs within a certain range. A shift is identified as a change in data by a value of 1 from the last data point. I would like to create a vector that is the same length as the range I am referring to by indexing, that will contain either 1's or 0's. Once the vector is created I will use another function to count the number of shifts. I know how to do this in Excel but I am new to Matlab so I appreciate your help. I've tried to go through the help docs and community but have not had much success.

My results are repeating

j = 1

j = 1

j = 0 . . .

if true
% code
%Here is my code:
for CurrentGear = TimeStartIdx:TimeEndIdx
if CurrentGear < CurrentGear-1
j = 1
elseif CurrentGear > CurrentGear -1
j = 1
else CurrentGear = CurrentGear -1
j =0 
end

TimeStartIdx and TimeEndIdx are the range I found by indexing.

Thanks.

Answer 1

[Thorsten]

If x is the vector of your data, you can get the vector of shifts by 1 as

dx = diff(x) == 1;

And to count the number of 1's

N = nnz(dx);

Answer 2

[JE]

Thank you, that's much simpler than a for loop with if statement.