using string in if statement

i want to use string in my if boolean expression....something like if(name =='daniel') disp...... All i have been getting are errors...is it possible and if yes how? Thanks

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

If you attempt to compare two strings using == and the strings are not the same length, then you will get errors. == can be used for strings only if they are the same length.

Use strcmp() or isequal() or strcmpi().

[N/A]

What if I'm using an if statement where I want the if condition to be met if the string being compared has only a part of the actual string

How do I make that work?

example

button = buttons

if button ==contains(str, "butt")

run()

else

stop()

end

[Steven Lord]

Working with a string array is different than working with a char array. What Walter wrote is true for char arrays (which was the main data type for storing text data in 2011, as the string class didn't exist yet.)

button = "button";
str = 'abcde';
if contains(str, button)
    disp("[" + str + "] contains the string [" + button + "]")
else
    disp("[" + str + "] doesn't contain the string [" + button + "]")
end

Now change the contents of the str variable and perform the same comparison.

str = 'space button';
if contains(str, button)
    disp("[" + str + "] contains the string [" + button + "]")
else
    disp("[" + str + "] doesn't contain the string [" + button + "]")
end

The contains function can accept two char vectors, two string arrays, two cell arrays containing char vectors, or a combination of those three types.

Answer 2

[Fangjun Jiang]

The following code should work. You can also use isequal(MyName,'Daniel'), strcmp(), strcmpi() etc.

MyName='Daniel';
if MyName=='Daniel'
disp('correct name');
else
disp('wrong name')
end

[Jan]

But this will *not* work: "MyName = 'Daniela'; if MyName == 'Daniel', ...", because the arrays compared by == must have the same size or one is a scalar.

[Fangjun Jiang]

Now I understand why the OP had errors. I personally never use == to compare strings. The error message should be pretty clear though, right?

Answer 3

[karipuff]

str = 'abc'

if strcmp('abc',str)

expression

else

expression

end