STRNCMP String Compare Function To Length N

Section: String Functions

USAGE

Compares two strings for equality, but only looks at the first N characters from each string. The general syntax for its use is 
  p = strncmp(x,y,n)

where x and y are two strings. Returns true if x and y are each at least n characters long, and if the first n characters from each string are the same. Otherwise, it returns false. In the second form, strncmp can be applied to a cell array of strings. The syntax for this form is 

  p = strncmp(cellstra,cellstrb,n)

where cellstra and cellstrb are cell arrays of a strings to compare. Also, you can also supply a character matrix as an argument to strcmp, in which case it will be converted via cellstr (so that trailing spaces are removed), before being compared.

Example

The following piece of code compares two strings: 
--> x1 = 'astring';
--> x2 = 'bstring';
--> x3 = 'astring';
--> strncmp(x1,x2,4)

ans = 
 0 

--> strncmp(x1,x3,4)

ans = 
 1

Here we use a cell array strings 

--> x = {'ast','bst',43,'astr'}

x = 
 [ast] [bst] [43] [astr] 

--> p = strncmp(x,'ast',3)

p = 
 1 0 0 1

Here we compare two cell arrays of strings 

--> strncmp({'this','is','a','pickle'},{'think','is','to','pickle'},3)

ans = 
 1 0 0 1

Finally, the case where one of the arguments is a matrix string 

--> strncmp({'this','is','a','pickle'},['peter ';'piper ';'hated ';'pickle'],4);