Search string array column for a specific string

I have a 1000 x 30 string array. I'm trying to search column 5 for a specific set of strings and output the rows in which they're found.

Example Code:

I've put a sample below. I'm trying to only search column 5 of X for the terms in search and spit out which row they're in. I'm not sure how to go about this. I've tried

while i < size(search(1,:),2)
    [row,col] = find(strcmp(X,search((i)));
    i = i + 1;
end

but this searches the entire row and not just column 5 for the terms. I also need the rows which include other terms in addition to the search terms like the 1st row.

>> search =

1×4 cell array

{'apple'} {'banana'} {'orange'} {'grapefruit'}

>> X(1:8,1:6)

ans =

8×6 string array

"0" "0" "0" "0" "apple peanut" "0"

"0" "0" "apple" "0" "apple" "0"

"0" "0" "0" "apple" "apple" "0"

"0" "0" "apple" "0" "banana" "0"

"0" "0" "0" "0" "banana" "0"

"0" "0" "banana" "0" "orange pickle" "0"

"0" "0" "pickle" "0" "orange" "0"

"0" "0" "0" "0" "grapefruit" "0"

Answer 1

[Ive J]

Have you tried ismember? You only need column 5, but you fed first argument of strcmp with the whole string array.

rowIdx = find(ismember(X(:, 5), search)); % row indices of X which contain any of search elements

[Scott Duffey]

Thanks! I realized I needed to be more specific. Some of the cells in column 5 contain both the search term and some other term. I need to make sure I get those rows as well.

[Ive J]

If your entire string array follows your example, so you can use contains:

rowIdx = find(contains(X(:, 5), search));

But if the text pattern is more complex, you can use regexp with some efforts.

[Scott Duffey]

Great, thanks!

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

search = {'apple', 'banana', 'orange', 'grapefruit'}

search = 1x4 cell array
    {'apple'}    {'banana'}    {'orange'}    {'grapefruit'}

searchcol = 3

searchcol = 3

X = [
    "0"    "0"    "0"    "0"    "apple"     "0"
    "0"    "0"    "apple"    "0"    "apple"     "0"
    "0"    "0"    "0"    "apple"    "apple"     "0"
    "0"    "0"    "apple"    "0"    "banana"    "0"
    "0"    "0"    "0"    "0"    "banana"    "0"
    "0"    "0"    "banana"    "0"    "orange"    "0"
    "0"    "0"    "pickle"    "0"    "orange"    "0"
    "0"    "0"    "0"    "0"    "grapefruit"      "0"
    ]

X = 8×6 string array
    "0"    "0"    "0"         "0"        "apple"         "0"
    "0"    "0"    "apple"     "0"        "apple"         "0"
    "0"    "0"    "0"         "apple"    "apple"         "0"
    "0"    "0"    "apple"     "0"        "banana"        "0"
    "0"    "0"    "0"         "0"        "banana"        "0"
    "0"    "0"    "banana"    "0"        "orange"        "0"
    "0"    "0"    "pickle"    "0"        "orange"        "0"
    "0"    "0"    "0"         "0"        "grapefruit"    "0"

[wasfound, fruitidx] = ismember(X(:,searchcol), search)

wasfound = 8x1 logical array
   0
   1
   0
   1
   0
   1
   0
   0

fruitidx = 8×1

0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0

●

matching_rows = find(wasfound)

matching_rows = 3×1

2 4 6

●

matching_fruit_number = fruitidx(wasfound)

matching_fruit_number = 3×1

1 1 2

●

[Scott Duffey]

Thanks! I realized I needed to be more specific. Some of the cells in column 5 contain both the search term and something else. I need to make sure I get those rows as well.