Compare two columns having different values.

I have 2 variables A and B, I want to compare the values with each other and want result like variable C. Is there any direct function I can use to get C?

A={'a','b','c','d','e'}

B={'b','c','d','e','f'}

C={'a',-

'b','b'

'c','c'

'd','d'

'e','e'

-.'f'}

Answer 1

[Arif Hoq]

try this:

A={'a','b','c','d','e'};
B={'b','c','d','e','f'};
C={'a','-'
'b','b'
'c','c'
'd','d'
'e','e'
'-.','f'};
a=[A(2:end) B(1:end-1)]';
b=[[A(1) '-'];reshape(a,[],2)];
out=[b;['-.' B(end)]]

out = 6×2 cell array
    {'a' }    {'-'}
    {'b' }    {'b'}
    {'c' }    {'c'}
    {'d' }    {'d'}
    {'e' }    {'e'}
    {'-.'}    {'f'}

[MakM]

Thanks for the answer Arif, thats some kind of hard code, Do you know how can we do it with a function, like compare the values and get output.

[Arif Hoq]

you can use horzcat and vertcat function

A={'a','b','c','d','e'};
B={'b','c','d','e','f'};
C={'a','-'
'b','b'
'c','c'
'd','d'
'e','e'
'-.','f'};
a=transpose(horzcat(A(2:end),B(1:end-1)));
b=vertcat(horzcat(A(1),'-'),reshape(a,[],2));
out=vertcat(b,horzcat('-.',B(end)))

[MakM]

The main idea is to compare the A and B and then get the answer, not to get the answer by hard coding.

I hope u hv understand my question :)

[Arif Hoq]

A={'a','b','c','d','e'};
B={'b','c','d','e','f'};
for i=1:length(A)
    for j=1:length(B)
if any(strcmp(A(i),B(j)))==1
    C(i,:)=[A(i) B(j)];
end
    end
end
output=[A(1) '-';C(2:end,:);'-.' B(end)]

output = 6×2 cell array
    {'a' }    {'-'}
    {'b' }    {'b'}
    {'c' }    {'c'}
    {'d' }    {'d'}
    {'e' }    {'e'}
    {'-.'}    {'f'}

Answer 2

[MJFcoNaN]

I will suggest the table join to do it:

tbla=table;
tblb=table;
tbla.var={'a','b','c','d','e'}';
tblb.var={'b','c','d','e','f'}';
tblc=outerjoin(tbla, tblb);
C=tblc{:,:};
C(cellfun(@isempty,C))={'-'};