Search a Structure Array or Database

Searches an entire database structure for the given values or strings, and returns corresponding indices of matching entries

A flexible tool capable of searching a large structure array for matching numerical or character values.

Use case:

[ index_array ] = searchDatabase( dataBase, value, fieldName, modifier)

Required Inputs:

dataBase (struct array or matrix) : struct database to search

value (char or double(value or list) ) : Value/string of fieldname desired to search for or match to

String input is case-insensitive. By default, searches for partial matches to strings.

Optional Inputs:

fieldName (string) : Fieldname of database to searach within (case-insensitive). Default value is an empty string.

If a value is given, will only search for matches in struct fields matching the given fieldName.

modifier (char) : Has 5 allowable values; '=', '~', '>', '<', and '' (empty string). The function varies based on class of value:

If value is a char or string:

1. '': case-insensitive search for value as substring of database field value (default for strings)

2. '=': case-insensitive search for value as exact, full-string match to database field value

3. '~': case-insensitive search for absence of value as substring of database field value

If value is a double:

1. '=': value must be equal to database field value (default value for double)

2. '<': value must be greater than database field value

3. '>': value must be less than database field value

4. '~': value must not be equal to database field value

Output is a list of indices corresponding to the entries in the database matching the criteria supplied by the inputs.

If dataBase is a 2D array (or higher dimensionality), this tool will still return the correct result, however to convert to the full index array you will need to use matlab's ind2sub function.