Calculation of distances from a given set of points to a set of segments

A fully vectorised calculation of distances from a given set of points to a set of segments.

CSMV calculates distances from a given set of points to a set of linear segments

SYNOPSIS: [squared_distances_to_segments I t]=csmv(P,R,Q,to_plot)
[squared_distances_to_segments I t]=csmv(P,R,Q,...)

INPUT P,R : arrays of coordinates of 2n segment endpoints
(i.e., if there are n segments considered in p-dimensional
Euclidean space, than P and R are n-by-p matrices); the sizes of P
and R should coincide; p should be greater or equal than unity.
Q : an array of coordinates corresponding to the set of m points
from which distances to the segments PR are calculated
(Q should therefore be an m-by-p matrix).
to_plot : (optional) graphical output.
Any non-zero value would cause the graphical output. There will be
no graphical output by default (if this parameter is not passed).

OUTPUT squared_distances_to_segments : an n-by-m matrix whose j-th column
contains n squared distance from the j-th point of Q to the segments PR.
I : a vector of m elements representing indices of the segments PR
which are the closest to points from Q.
t : an n-by-m matrix whose ij-th element is a real number between 0
and 1 equal to |P(i,:)Qi*(j,:)|/|P(i,:)R(i,:)|, where Qi*(j,:) is the
point on the segment P(i,:)R(i,:) closest to Q(j,:). Thus, for example, if
P(i,:) is closest to Q(j,:), then t(i,j)=0; if R(i,:) is closest to
Q(j,:), then t(i,j)=1.

NOTE: (i) the dimensions of P and R should coincide!
(ii) you may encounter an error if some points P and R coincide;
this can be easily avoided by suitably changing the code - feel
free to do so.