Image Processing: Find nearest nonzero pixel value to specified pixel coordinates

Is there a way to find the closest non-zero pixel value to specified x,y coordinates of an image by shifting only the horizontal 'x' direction?

For example, if I have the coordinates 100, 100, the pixel value is zero, but there is a 1 at the coordinates 100, 98. Is there a way that I can find this 1 automatically, and retrieve the correct coordinates (98,100)?

As always, thanks for your help!

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

[nz, nzidx] = find(YourArray(:,y));
[offset, offsetidx] = min(abs(x - nzidx));
nearestpixelidx = nzidx(offsetidx);