Comparing strings in cell arrays of different sizes *Most efficient*

Hi,

I have got two cell arrays, actually I got 3. example (excuse any typos im writing this off the top of my head, i just want to know the logics behind it)

Cellarray_1 = { 'a'; 'access'; 'also'; 'always'; 'and'; 'arrived' };
Cellarray_2 = [ 1  23  0  10  13  34  2  4  5  1  1];
Cellarray_3 = { 'a'; 'about'; 'above' ;'access'; 'addition'; 'also'; 'alter'; 'always'; 'akin' ; 'and'; 'arrived'};

The aim is to check which strings in Cellarray_1 are in Cellarray_3. From this find the index values to get the relevant element in Cellarray_2.

so the output should be a vector:

output = [1 10 34 4 1 1]

This is achieved because ("a", "access", "also", "always", "and", "arrived") appear in Cellarray_3 and there corresponding index values point to Cellarray_2 index values getting the data

I have got this so far:

      for i=1:numel(Cellarray_1)        
          indexfind = strcmp(Cellarray_3,Cellarray_1(i));
          testoutput(i) = Cellarray_2 (find(indexfind == 1))
      end

Is there a more efficient way. As far as I can tell (in my tired state) there is but, I was hoping you Pros can guide me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

[Teja Muppirala]

How about using the ISMEMBER function?

Cellarray_2(ismember(Cellarray_3,Cellarray_1))

ans =

     1    10    34     4     1     1

[Tanil]

thanks thats perfect!