How to find a difference between two cell arrays containing vectors?

1 view (last 30 days)
I have two cell arrays of unequal size containing vectors:
A={[1 1], [1 2], [1 3], [1 4]}
and
B={[1 1], [1 7], [1 3], [1 8], [1,5], [1,6]}
I want to substract A from B resulting in cell array C which will contain vectors which are NOT in both A and B. In this case wanted result would look like:
C={[1 2], [1 4], [1 5], [1 6], [1 7]}
Also, it would be good if vectors in C would be oredered in ascending order (as presented in this example).
I have tried using setdiff function but was getting error message: "Input A of class cell and input B of class cell must be cell arrays of strings, unless one is a string."
Any ideas on how to solve this?
Many thanks
  2 Comments
Jan
Jan on 19 Jul 2015
"contain vectors which are NOT in both A and B": Why is [1,8] not member of C?
Aleksandar Milakovic
Aleksandar Milakovic on 20 Jul 2015
I have accidentaly not included [1 8] in the resulting vector, my mistake.

Sign in to comment.

Accepted Answer

Star Strider
Star Strider on 19 Jul 2015
This seems to work:
A={[1 1], [1 2], [1 3], [1 4]};
B={[1 1], [1 7], [1 3], [1 8], [1,5], [1,6]};
Ad = cell2mat(A');
Bd = cell2mat(B');
C{:} = setdiff(union(Bd, Ad, 'rows'), intersect(Bd,Ad,'rows'), 'rows');
The ‘C{:}’ assignment creates a cell array out of the final operation. (Note that your description of ‘C’ omitted the vector [1 8], that appears to meet the criteria.)

More Answers (1)

Jan
Jan on 19 Jul 2015
A = {[1 1], [1 2], [1 3], [1 4]};
B = {[1 1], [1 7], [1 3], [1 8], [1,5], [1,6]};
Ad = cat(1, A{:});
Bd = cat(1, B{:});
C = setxor(Ad, Bd, 'rows')
But here [1,8] is member of C. Is this wanted? If not, please explain exactly which elements should be included in the result.

Categories

Find more on Cell Arrays in Help Center and File Exchange

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!