Vectorized FIND with 'FIRST' option

Find the first non-zero element(s) along row/column - or any other dimension

You are now following this Submission

Up to now, to find the first non-zero element of a matrix along a column (for example) user might:

1. Use for-loop with FIND command
for j=1:size(A,2)
... = find(A(:,j), 1, 'first');
end

2. Use other vectorized methods, often time not very straight-forwards (MAX, LOGICAL, SPARSE, etc...). This method creates temporary arrays and scan such the arrays few times while doing some calculation.

3. Write the basic FOR-LOOP algorithm to accomplish the task.

The FINDFIRST command does just the same, but implemented using MEX engine which should be faster than any of the above. It can handle 'FIRST', 'LAST' option, and return more than one FIND count.

NOTE: not yet tested on Linux (gcc)

Cite As

Bruno Luong (2026). Vectorized FIND with 'FIRST' option (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/24641-vectorized-find-with-first-option), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

Acknowledgements

Inspired: csearch

Categories

Find more on Sparse Matrices in Help Center and MATLAB Answers

General Information

MATLAB Release Compatibility

  • Compatible with any release

Platform Compatibility

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Linux
Version Published Release Notes Action
1.1.0.0

Fix a bug when 'last' in invoked on 64-bit platform

1.0.0.0