Can I move the contains function from Matlab 2017b to Matlab 2014b?

Hello,

I am facing a Matlab compatability issue regarding the contains function. I wrote a script using Matlab 2017b but want to give it to a user group who only has access to 2014b.

The main back-compatability issue is that I use the contains function to find all indices of a text-based cell vector matching a string (e.g. indices = contains(cellVec, 'string')). I then reduce a different but identically-sized cell vector using those indices (e.g. cellVec2 = cellVec2(indices)). This was working very effectively for my needs and avoids any loops. Unfortunately, I need to find a way to replace all of these contains calls - I looked into using indices = ~isempty(strfind(cellVec,'string')) but this yields a single result instead of a numeric vector of results.

Since my computer has 2014b and 2017b, is there anything I can do to poach the 2017b contains function in a way that is usable by 2014b, or can I use strfind or another function to produce a numeric vector of indices while avoiding loops?

Thanks, Charlie

[Walter Roberson]

contains is part of the string() datatype upgrades; it relies on functionality that did not exist in R2014b

[Adam Danz]

You could write your own function with the same name.

Maybe strcmp() or strcmpi() would suit your needs.

Answer 1

[Charles Arentzen]

Thanks guys, good to know. I see what you mean on the updated string datatype, so trying to port over contains is definitely not a viable path.

I was able to solve the issue by using cellfun to produce a vector output:

indices = 1-cellfun('isempty',strfind(cellVec,'string'))