TF = strncmp(string,string,n) compares the first n characters of two strings for equality. The function returns a scalar logical 1 for equality, or scalar logical 0 for inequality.

TF = strncmp(string,cellstr,n) compares the first n characters of a string with the first n characters of each element of a cell array of strings. The function returns a logical array the same size as the cellstr input in which logical 1 represents equality. The order of the first two input arguments is not important.

TF = strncmp(cellstr,cellstr,n) compares each element of one cell array of strings with the same element of the other. strncmp attempts to match only the first n characters of these strings. The function returns a logical array the same size as either input array.

Tips

The strncmp function is intended for comparison of character data. When used to compare numeric data, it returns logical 0.
Use strncmpi for case-insensitive string comparisons.
Any leading and trailing blanks in either of the strings are explicitly included in the comparison.
The value returned by strncmp is not the same as the C language convention.
strncmp supports international character sets.

Input Arguments

`string`	Single character string or n-by-1 array of strings.
`cellstr`	Cell array of strings.
`n`	Maximum number of characters to compare. Must be a scalar, integer-valued double.

Output Arguments

TF

When both inputs are character arrays, TF is a scalar logical value. This value is logical 1 (true) if the size and content of both arrays are equal, and logical 0 (false) if they are not.

When either or both inputs are a cell array of strings, TF is an array of logical ones and zeros. This array is the same size as the input cell array(s), and contains logical 1 (true) for those elements of the input arrays that are a match, and logical 0 (false) for those elements that are not.

Examples

Before trying the strncmp function, use strcmp to perform a simple comparison of the two input strings. Because only the first 13 characters are the same, strcmp returns logical 0:

strcmp('Kansas City, KS', 'Kansas City, MO')
ans =
     0

Do the comparison again, but this time using strncmp and specifying the number of characters to compare:

chars2compare = length('Kansas City, KS') - 2
ans =
    13
strncmp('Kansas City, KS', 'Kansas City, MO', chars2compare)
ans =
     1

From a list of 10 MATLAB functions, find those that apply to using a camera:

function_list = {'calendar' 'case' 'camdolly' 'circshift' ...
                 'caxis' 'camtarget' 'cast' 'camorbit' ...
                 'callib' 'cart2sph'};

strncmp(function_list, 'cam', 3)
ans =
    0    0    1    0    0    1    0    1    0    0

function_list{strncmp(function_list, 'cam', 3)}
ans =
   camdolly
ans =
   camtarget
ans =
   camorbit

Create two 5-by-10 string arrays str1 and str2 that are equal, except for the element at row 4, column 3. Using linear indexing, this is element 14:

str1 = ['AAAAAAAAAA'; 'BBBBBBBBBB'; 'CCCCCCCCCC'; ...
        'DDDDDDDDDD'; 'EEEEEEEEEE']
str1 =
    AAAAAAAAAA
    BBBBBBBBBB
    CCCCCCCCCC
    DDDDDDDDDD
    EEEEEEEEEE

str2 = str1;
str2(4,3) = '-'
str2 =
    AAAAAAAAAA
    BBBBBBBBBB
    CCCCCCCCCC
    DD-DDDDDDD
    EEEEEEEEEE

Because MATLAB compares the arrays in linear order (that is, column by column rather than row by row), strncmp finds only the first 13 elements to be the same:

str1   A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E
str2   A B C D E A B C D E A B C - E
                                 |
                             element 14

strncmp(str1, str2, 13)
ans =
     1

strncmp(str1, str2, 14)
ans =
     0

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strncmp - Compare first n characters of strings (case sensitive)

Syntax

Description