Write a function called get_distance that accepts two character vector inputs representing the names of two cities. The function returns the distance between them as an output argument called distance. For example, the call get_distance('Seattle, WA'

function distance = get_distance(x,y)
    [~,~,raw] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
    col_labels = raw(1,:);
    row_labels = raw(:,1);
    try
        distance = raw{contains(row_labels,y),contains(col_labels,x)};
    catch
        distance = -1;
    end
end

error

 Assessment result: incorrectNashville, TN and Las Vegas, NV
Variable distance has an incorrect value.
 Assessment result: incorrectRandom city pairs
Variable distance has an incorrect value.
get_distance('Chattanooga, TN','Meads, KY') returned -1 which is incorrect.

[Steven Lord]

Given that this question has been tagged "no more answers please!", should one of the answers be accepted and the question be locked?

Answer 1

[Arafat Roney]

function distance=get_distance(a,b)
[~,~,raw]=xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
row=raw(1,:);
col=raw(:,1);
for ii=2:length(row)
    if strcmp(row(ii),a)
        mii=ii;
        break;
    end
end
for jj=2:length(col)
    if strcmp(col(jj),b)
        njj=jj;
        break;
    end
end
if (strcmp(row(ii),a))&&(strcmp(col(jj),b))
    distance=raw{mii,njj};
else
    distance=-1;
end
end

[Maaz Jamshaid]

for ii=2:length(row)
 mii=ii;

can you tell me why you did 2:length.

and why do mii.

[Olha Skurikhina]

2 becasue the first column, the first row is empty cell

[SOUMYAJIT MONDAL]

Please explain

row=raw(1,:);

raw(1,:) what this statement means

[Walter Roberson]

@SOUMYAJIT MONDAL

To understand what the raw is doing, you need the context

[~,~,raw]=xlsread('Distances.xlsx');

That is, you need to know that raw is being returned as the third output from xlsread()

The third output from xlsread() is a cell array according to the following rules:

• if the corresponding cell in the spreadsheet is empty, then the cell in the cell array will contain empty (or is it NaN? I forget)
• if the corresponding cell in the spreadsheet is marked as an date, then the cell in the cell array will contain a MATLAB datetime() object, on new enough versions of MATLAB (older versions the date will show up as excel numeric format, days since Jan 1 1900 with a bug having to do with leap year handling for year 1900)
• if the corresponding cell in the spreadsheet can be converted to numeric by str2double(), then the cell in the cell array will contain the converted numeric value
• otherwise the cell in the cell array will contain whatever characters were in the spreadsheet of the cell

raw(1,;) would then be selecting the first row of that cell array.

In the file, the first entry A1 is empty, and columns 2 onward are city names.

[SOUMYAJIT MONDAL]

Okay ,

if raw(1,;) represents the first row of that cell array then row=raw(,;) should also be selecting the first row. So 'row' is not initialised as a vector ,but in the for loop 'row' is used as a vector ex. row(1) , row(2), ....

[Walter Roberson]

@SOUMYAJIT MONDAL

That is an example of "linear indexing". https://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/articles/matrix-indexing-in-matlab.html

[Nabatan Samiha]

@Walter Roberson plz help me

why it shows this type of error

[Walter Roberson]

@Nabatan Samiha

You asked to read a file named Distance.xlsx without passing any directory information. Your current folder is named /users/mss.system.qmc49 . There is no file named Distance.xlsx in your current folder.

You could first cd to where the file actually is. But it is better if you use fullfile to construct a complete path to where the file actually is.

Answer 2

[Mati Somp]

one more

function distance = get_distance(A,B)
  [data txt] =xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
  ii=0;
  jj=0;
 for i=2:length(data)
     if string(A)==string(txt{1,i})
     ii=i;
     end
     if (string(B)==string(txt{1,i}))
     jj=i;
     end
 end
 if (~(jj) || ~(ii))
     distance=-1;
 else
 distance=data(ii-1,jj-1);
 end

[THIERNO AMADOU MOUCTAR BALDE]

perfect

[Kulko Margarita]

I wish this code was commented. I understand the general idea, but would like to see the logic flow of whoever wrote it.

Answer 3

[Olel Arem]

function distance=get_distance(city_1,city_2)
n=0;m=0;
[value,name]=xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
for ii=1:size(name,2)
    if (strcmp(city_1,name(ii,1)))
        n=ii;
    end
end
for jj=1:size(name,1)
    if (strcmp(city_2,name(1,jj)))
        m=jj;
    end
end
if(n==0 && m==0 && n==1&&m==1)
    distance =-1;
elseif (n>0&&m>0)
    distance=value(n-1,m-1);
else
    distance=-1;
end

[Syed Zubair shah]

if(n==0 && m==0 && n==1&&m==1)

can you explain why we use this line and kindly explain it

[Rik]

That will never be true. n can't be 0 and 1 at the same time. Why this uncommented block of code ever received an upvote is not clear to me.

Answer 4

[Taif Ahmed BIpul]

function distance=get_distance(A,B)
[~,~,All]=xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
p=strcmp(All,A);
q=strcmp(All,B);
r=sum(p(:));
s=sum(q(:));
if ~(r==2&&s==2)
    distance=-1;
    return
end
a=find(p==1);
b=find(q==1);
distance=All{(a(1)),(b(1))};

[Nada Hussein]

can you please explain your code? i don't get the lines:5,6,7,11,12

[Walter Roberson]

The ==2 does not make sense to me; it would make sense to me if it were ==1 meaning that exactly one column matched.

Oh wait... the Raw (third) output has the names in the first row and in the first column. The person who wrote the above code assumes that each name will appear exactly once in the header row and once in the header column, for a total of two appearances: that is why the 2. The person also assumes that the order is exactly the same between the rows and columns.

Distance matrices should not be assumed to be symmetric. I would not recommend this version of the code.

Answer 5

[UJJWAL Padha]

function distance = get_distance(x,y)
k=-1;
[~,~,all] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
[r c] = size(all)
for i = 1:r
    for j = 1:c
        if i==1 && j==1
            continue;
        else
            if strcmp(x,all(i,1))==1 && strcmp(y,all(1,j))==1
                k= all{i,j};
            end
        end
    end
end 
distance = k;
end             

[Sumit Naza]

this doesn't return Distance=-1

[Rik]

It turns out you can't reliably cheat off this page, because some solutions have bugs or flaws. If that weren't the case I would probably be a lot more active in deleting answers.

Answer 6

[Ankit singh chauhan]

function distance=get_distance(city1,city2) [~,~,raw]=xlsread('Distance.xlsx') try s=strcmp(raw,city2) 
g=strcmp(raw,city1)
[r1,c1]=find(s==1)
[r2,c2]=find(g==2)
distance=raw{r1,r2} 
catch 
distance=-1 
end

[Rik]

Still the same question: why did you post this? What does it teach?

Answer 7

[Gokul surya Subramanian]

function distance = get_distance(a,b)
[~,text,raw] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');

for i=2:size(raw,1)
    if strcmp(text{i,1}, a)
        break
    end
end
if i>=size(raw,1)
    distance=-1;
else
    for j=2:size(raw,2)
        if strcmp(text{1,j}, b)
            distance=raw{i,j};
            break
        end
    end
    if j>=size(raw,2)
        distance = -1;
    end
end

[Walter Roberson]

This code is incorrect for the case where a is found in the last row of text, or b is found in the last column of text.

[CCF2017 MIT]

actually the excel file is already given with the cities arranged in alphabetical orders. so i dont think it should be an issue.

[Walter Roberson]

Then there would be a problem if asked to find information about the last city alphabetically.

[Mahesh Netke]

use following code

function distance = get_distance(a,b)
found = true;
[~,text,raw] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
for i=2:size(raw,1)
    for j=2:size(raw,2)
        if strcmp(text{i,1}, a) && strcmp(text{1,j}, b)
            distance=raw{i,j};
            found = false;
            break
        end
    end
end
if found
    distance = -1;
end
end

[Jun Choi]

what's the purpose of writing "found=true"?

[Walter Roberson]

In the above code, the found flag has to be read as the opposite of its normal meaning, as indicating that the data was not found. It would have been clearer if the person had written

function distance = get_distance(a,b)
notfound = true;
[~,text,raw] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
for i=2:size(raw,1)
    for j=2:size(raw,2)
        if strcmp(text{i,1}, a) && strcmp(text{1,j}, b)
            distance=raw{i,j};
            notfound = false;
            break
        end
    end
end
if notfound
    distance = -1;
end
end

The reason to have such a flag at all is that it is possible that the combination of cities was not located in the data, in which case distance = -1 has to be returned.

[Prithvi Shams]

When I try with a modified version of this code as follows, I get distance = -1 for get_distance('Seattle, WA','Miami, FL'). I couldn't debug this because it would take a long time to get to the index (279, 187) , so it'd be great if someone could point out the semantic error in this code.

For Seattle and Miami, the if condition should be true, so the else block should not have been executed.

function [distance] = get_distance(a, b)
    
[num, text, raw] = xlsread("Distances.xlsx");


for ii = 2:size(raw,1)
    for jj = 2:size(raw,2)
        if strcmpi(a,raw{ii,1}) && strcmpi(b, raw{1,jj})
            distance = raw{ii, jj};
            
        else
            distance = -1; 
        end
    end

end    
end

[Walter Roberson]

    for jj = 2:size(raw,2)
        if strcmpi(a,raw{ii,1}) && strcmpi(b, raw{1,jj})
            distance = raw{ii, jj};
            
        else
            distance = -1; 
        end
    end

You do not end your search as soon as you find a match, so if there is no match on the next jj value, you would replace distance with -1 .

[Jobin Geevarghese Thampi]

strcmpi(a,raw{ii,1}) && strcmpi(b, raw{1,jj} could anyone explain me this?

[Walter Roberson]

a is the name of the first city, as a character vector. b is the name of the second city, as a character vector.

raw{ii,1} is the contents of the character vector that lives at row #ii, column 1, of the raw data. column 1 is a list of "from" cities.

raw{1,jj} is the contents of the character vector that lives at column #jj of row 1 of the raw data. row 1 is a list of "to" (destination) cities.

strcmpi() is a comparison of two character vectors ignoring case -- so for example 'Los Vegas' and 'los Vegas' would be considered to be the same.

Thus the code is seeing if the first city name matches the contents of the name of the city in the current row, number ii, and (&&) the second city name matches the contents of the name of the city in the current column, number jj.

[Jobin Geevarghese Thampi]

@Walter Roberson do you understand the above code? could you please explain me the code which i metioned above?

[Jobin Geevarghese Thampi]

this one also 'if string(A)==string(txt{1,i})' why 1?

[Walter Roberson]

For this particular homework problem, the reference data has been defined to be stored in a xlsx file that has the format

<empty>     <cityname1> <cityname2> <cityname3> ...
<cityname1> distance11  distance12  distance13 ...
<cityname2> distance21  distance22  distance23 ...

where the <cityname> are text such as 'Los Vegas, Nevada' and 'Wawa, Ontario', and the distances are numeric.

When you use xlsread on the file and ask for the second output, the output will be a cell array of character vectors, with the character vectors being present where the original data had text, and being empty where the original data had numbers. So it might look something like

txt = {
  [],       'LA',       'Wawa',     'Lima'
  'LA'      []          []          []
  'Wawa'    []          []          []
  'Lima'    []          []          []
 }

When you use txt{1,i} you would therefore be accessing the [] at the beginning, or one of the city names, 'LA', 'Wawa', 'Lima' -- you would be reading out of row #1 from the txt cell array. txt{ROWNUMBER, COLUMNNUMBER} is the general form.

Using string() on a character vector converts it from being a character vector to being a scalar "string" object. So the line

if string(A)==string(txt{1,i})

converts character vector inside A to a string() object; and then extracts the content of column #i from row 1 of the cell array named txt and converts that content into a string() object. Then the line uses == between the string objects.

The reason someone would do that is that == is defined between string objects to return true of the strings have the same content, and false if the strings do not have the same content, with false being returned if they are different because they have different lengths. So string('LA') == string('Wawa') is perfectly good code that will not have a problem.

But == is not defined between character vectors in the same way, In particular, == between character vectors will fail if they both have more than one character and the lengths do not match. 'LA'=='Wawa' would fail complaining that the array dimensions do not agree (meaning that the lengths are different.) To compare character vectors taking into account they might be different lengths, use strcmp(), as in strcmp('LA', 'Wawa')

Answer 8

[Muhammad Sadiq]

function distance = get_distance(a,b)
[~,text,raw] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');

for i=2:size(raw,1)
    if strcmp(text{i,1}, a)
        break
    end
end
if i>=size(raw,1)
    distance=-1;
else
    for j=2:size(raw,2)
        if strcmp(text{1,j}, b)
            distance=raw{i,j};
            break
        end
    end
    if j>=size(raw,2)
        distance = -1;
    end
end

Answer 9

[Alan Chacko]

function d = get_distance(c1,c2)
     [~,~,city] = xlsread("Distances.xlsx");   
     [r,c] = size(city);
     row = city(1:end,1);
     col = city(1,1:end);
     ccr=sort(contains(row(2:end),c1));
     ccc=sort(contains(col(2:end),c2));
     if ccr'==ccc
    
     ir = find(strcmp(row,c1));
     ic = find(strcmp(col,c2));
     d = city{ir,ic};
  
     else
         d=-1;
         

end

[Alan Chacko]

im facing a problem here

when the inputs are Nashville and las vegas,, seems to return d as -1

[Walter Roberson]

Remember that contains() is case sensitive, so if the entry in the file had Las Vegas and you ask to search for las vegas then you would not find a match.

[Jagadeesh Korukonda]

[Jagadeesh Korukonda]

this errors are coming

[Walter Roberson]

What happens when you use the debugger to trace the flow of your code?

Answer 10

[Timothy Simon Thomas]

function distance=get_distance(L1,L2)
    [n,~,r]=xlsread('matlab_dist.xlsx');
    i=1;j=1;
    [R C]=size(n);
    while(~(strcmp(L1,r(1,i))) && i<=R)
        i=i+1;
    end
    while(~(strcmp(L2,r(j,1)))&& j<=C)
        j=j+1;
    end
    j=j-1;i=i-1;
    if(~(strcmp(L1,r(1,i+1))) || ~(strcmp(L2,r(j+1,1))))
        distance=-1;
    else
        distance=n(i,j);
    end
end

Answer 11

[Ujjawal Barnwal]

function distance=get_distance(c1,c2)
[num txt raw]=xlsread("Distances.xlsx");
a=0;b=0;
for ii=2:337
    if strcmp(txt{1,ii},c1)
        a=ii;
    elseif strcmp(txt{1,ii},c2)
        b=ii;
    end
end
if a && b
    distance=num(a-1,b-1);
else
    distance=-1;
end

[Walter Roberson]

Why 337?

Your code assumes that Distances contains data of a particular size. It also assumes that the number of rows and columns is the same. It further assumes that there is never a case where the two different cities happen to occur at the same row and column number. For example,

*           apple orange grapefruit
orange          2      0          3
grapefruit      1      3          0
apple           0      2          1

Your code would fail for (say) orange, grapefruit because it assumes that when it finds orange in column 3, that it is not possible to also happen to find grapefruit in row 3.

Answer 12

[Vishesh Haria]

function distance=get_distance(a,b)
[~,~,raw]=xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
row=raw(1,:);
col=raw(:,1);
for ii=2:length(row)
    if strcmp(row(ii),a)
        mii=ii;
        break;
    end
end
for jj=2:length(col)
    if strcmp(col(jj),b)
        njj=jj;
        break;
    end
end
if(njj > 0 && mii > 0)
    distance = raw{mii,njj};
elseif(njj == 1 && mii == 1)
    distance = -1;
elseif(njj == 0 && mii == 0)
    distance = -1;
else
    distance=-1;
end
end

Error:

distance = get_distance('g, WA','Miagmi, FL')

Unrecognized function or variable 'njj'.

Error in get_distance (line 19)

if(njj > 0 && mii > 0)

Help me understand this error.

[亮 张]

I think you might remove two elif condition commands and set default "mii" and "njj" as 0, then it could work.

Answer 13

[Md Nazmus Sakib]

function y = get_distance(city_1,city_2)
global raw;
[~,~,raw] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
%fetching cities in rows
r_city = {};
for i = 1:337
    r_city{1,i} = raw{1,i};
end
%fetching cities in columns
c_city = {};
for j = 1:337
    c_city{1,j} = raw{j,1};
end
%searching city_1
search_c1 = strcmp(c_city,city_1);
%searching row
for ii = 1:337
    if (search_c1(1,ii) == 1)
        break
    else
        ii = 1;%if the city is not found ii will give 1
    end
end
%searching city_2
search_c2 = strcmp(r_city,city_2);
%searching column
for jj = 1:337
    if (search_c2(1,jj) == 1)
        break
    else
        jj = 1;%if the city is not found jj will give 1
    end
end
if ((ii == 1) || (jj == 1)) % if the city is not found
    y = -1;
else
    y = raw{ii,jj}(1,1);
end
end

[Walter Roberson]

What will you do when the Distances.xlsx file does not have exactly 337 rows and columns ?

[Md Nazmus Sakib]

Thanks, I think I'll first measure the size or length of 'raw'.

Answer 14

[M NAGA JAYANTH AVADHANI]

This works perfectly.

function distance = get_distance(city1,city2)
[~,~,raw] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
row = raw(1,:);
col = raw(:,1);
mi =0;mj =0;
for i = 2:length(row)
    if strcmp(row(i),city1)
        mi = i;
    end
end
for j = 2:length(col)
    if strcmp(col(j),city2)
        mj = j;
    end
end
if mi> 1 && mj>1
    distance = raw{mi,mj};
else
    distance = -1;
end
end 

[SWARNENDU DUTTA]

what is the requirement of mi =0;mj =0; in line 3

[Rik]

Look through the rest of the code. Where are values for mi and mj set? Only inside if statements. Is it guaranteed that those lines are reached? What would be the consequence of those variables not being set?

[THIERNO AMADOU MOUCTAR BALDE]

thanks sir

[Nabatan Samiha]

[Nabatan Samiha]

please help me .why it does not works?

Answer 15

[Capulus_love]

function distance = get_distance(a,b)
    [~,~,excel] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
    col = excel(1,:);
    row = excel(:,1);
    x=size(col)
    y=size(row)
    col_count = 1;
    row_count = 1;
    for i = 2 : x(2)+1
        col_count = col_count + 1;
        if contains(col{i},a) == 1
            break
        end
    end
    for j = 2 : y(1)+1
        row_count = row_count + 1;
        if contains(row{j},b) == 1
            break
        end
    end
    if (col_count > 337) || (row_count > 337)
        distance = -1
    else
        distance = excel{row_count,col_count}
    end
end

% why Non-existent city is not solved...???

[Capulus_love]

i passed the problem using try.. catch..end

but, still i don't know why this code is not working

[Rik]

Where are you checking if a city exists in the list? What happens on each line if that happens?

[Walter Roberson]

    if (col_count > 337) || (row_count > 337)

What would happen if they changed the data file to one that had (for example) 500 cities?

Answer 16

[Yan Li]

function distance = get_distance (ct1, ct2)
   [~,~,raw]= xlsread("Distances.xlsx");
   f_row = raw(1,:);
   f_col = raw(:,1);
   flag = false;
   distance = -1;
   for n=1:length(f_row)
       for m=1:length(f_col)
       if string(f_row(n)) == ct1 && string(f_col(m)) == ct2
           flag = true
           distance = raw{n,m};
           
       end
       end
   end
end

[Yan Li]

THE CODE PASSED ALL TESTS, MIGHT NOT BE THE SMARTEST, BUT A WORKING ONE.

[Rik]

Surprisingly enough this works.

string({'foo'})=='foo'

Why did you decide to post this? What does it teach?

Also, why are you setting a flag, but not returning it or using it anywhere?

Answer 17

[Ahmed Saleh]

function distance = get_distance(city1,city2)
[~,~,distances] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
num1=0;
num2=0;
s=size(distances);

for i=2:s(1)
    logic=strcmp(city1,distances{i,1});
    if logic== true
        num1=i;
        break
    end
end

for j=2:s(2)
    logic2 = strcmp(city2,distances{1,j});
    if logic2 == true
        num2=j;
        break
    end
end
if num1==0 || num2==0
    distance=-1;
    return
end
distance=distances{num1,num2};
end

[Walter Roberson]

What happens if the file is not exactly 337 rows?

[Ahmed Saleh]

i fixed it

[Walter Roberson]

What are the possible values returned by strcmp()?

What are the possible values returned by the expression

logic == true

?

Under what circumstances does "if" consider the expression to succeed?

[Ahmed Saleh]

it returns 0 or 1

if it is 1, num=i and breaks the loop

[Ahmed Saleh]

what does the flag mark mean?

[Rik]

You mean that one? You can use it to attract the attention of high reputation users and site administrators to solve a particular issue (e.g. if a post should be deleted or a thread should be closed).

Also, strcmp doesn't just return 1 or 0, it returns true or false. And it doesn't always return 1 value.

To refrase Walter's second question: when is false equal to true or is true not equal to true?

Use the debugger to execute your code line by line.

[Ahmed Saleh]

ok, thank you

Answer 18

[Abhijeet Singh]

function distance = get_distance(x,y)
[~,~,everything] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
a = everything(1:size(everything,1),1);
b = everything(1,1:size(everything,2));

for j = 1:size(everything,1)
l=0;
    if strcmp(a(j,1),x)
        l=j;
        break
    end
end

for i = 1:size(everything,2)
k=0;
    if strcmp( b(1,i),y)
        k=i;
        break
    end
end

if k ~= 0 && l ~= 0
    s = everything(l,k);
    distance = s{1};
else
    distance = -1;
end
end

[Rik]

What does this answer add? What does it teach? Why should it not be deleted?

[Abhijeet Singh]

@RikIt is another way to solve the given problem! And it will work even if we add few details in the xlx file.

[Rik]

What would you say is the key difference between your solution and the one above this one?

If you want to educate: comments are a great way to explain what your code is doing.

Also:

a = everything(1:size(everything,1),1);
b = everything(1,1:size(everything,2));
%is equivalent to this:
a = everything(:,1);
b = everything(1,:);

Answer 19

[Silvana Castillo]

function distance = get_distance(c1,c2);
% reads excel file in just everything
[~,~,everything] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
% find would give index of c1 readinf first column
a = find(strcmp(everything(1,1:end),c1))
% find would give index of c2 reading first row
% strcmp = are equals two strings inputs?
b = find(strcmp(everything(1:end,1),c2))
% if any c1 or c2 do not exist
if isempty(a) || isempty(b)
    distance = -1
else
% converts from cell class to matrix or double
%the distance value based on index
    distance = cell2mat(everything(a,b))
end

Answer 20

[Milad Mehrnia]

function distance = get_distance(a,b)
[num,txt] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx');
x = 0;y = 0;
for i = 2:lenghth(txt)
    if strcmp(txt{1,i},a)
        x = i;break;     % It's better to use break, Because it reduces the running time significantly
    end
end
for j = 2:height(txt)     % It's better to use a seperated for function for j, Because it reduces the running time significantly too
    if strcmp(txt{j,1},b)
        y = j;break; 
    end
end
if ~x || ~y
    distance = -1;
else
    distance = num(x-1,y-1);
end

[Rik]

You are on the right track. I would suggest looking up the numel and size functions (as replacement for height and length, which you misspelled).

I would also suggest looking up ismember, which can further increase performance.

[Milad Mehrnia]

As we have the matrices on the memory, you are right and ismember is better than for. After your comment I tried it and the result is awesome. It brakes the time to half.

Really thank you

Answer 21

[Zia Ur Rehman]

Hi folks,

plz check my code and plz tell me if I can improve this.

function distance = get_distance(a,b)
[~, ~, data] = xlsread('Distances.xlsx'); %reading the file and having its full data that is by default raw data in data variable on 3rd aurgument
z = size(data); % Calculating the size as we need to traverse both first coloumn and first row
c = z(1,1); % c = no. of rows
d = z(1,2); % d = no. of coloumn
for i = 2:c % as (1,1) of file is empty so starting from 2 to the length of rows and coloumns
    e = strcmp(data{1,i},a); % checking through first row and compare with a
    if e == true % if we find the matching then record its index in f and stop the loop through 'break'.
        f = i;
        break;
    end
end
for j = 2:d
    k = strcmp(data{j,1},b); % checking through first coloumn and compare with b
    if k == true % if we find the matching then record its index in l and stop the loop through 'break'.
        l = j;
        break;
    end
end
if e==true && k==true % if both are true then show the distance at that index(f,l) otherwisr distance = -1
    distance = data{f,l};
else
    distance = -1;
end

[Walter Roberson]

variable names could be more descriptive

The result of strcmp is already logical, either true or false. You do not need to == true in the if, you can just

if e

[Zia Ur Rehman]

thanks a lot for your valueable comment.

[Walter Roberson]

ismember() is easier than looping

[Zia Ur Rehman]

ok, I will check how this builtin function works.

Answer 22

[Pascal]

I got this solution but the last bit of code seems rather plump, do you have suggestions to improve the code?

function [distance] = get_distance(c1,c2)

raw = readcell('Distances.xlsx');

row1 = raw(1,2:end);
col1 = raw(2:end,1);

ind1 = find(ismember(row1,c1));
ind2 = find(ismember(col1,c2));

if isempty(ind1) || isempty(ind2)
    distance = -1;
else

dis = raw(2:end,2:end);    
d = dis(ind1,ind2);
distance = cell2mat(d);

end