contains#

Purpose#

Indicates whether one matrix, multidimensional array or string array contains any elements from another symbol.

Format#

found = contains(haystack, needles)#

Parameters:

haystack (matrix, N-dimensional array or string array) – The symbol to search.
needles (matrix, N-dimensional array or string array) – The elements to look for.

Returns:

found (scalar) –

1 if one or more elements from needles was found in haystack, or 0 if no matches were found.

If needles contains only one element, the output from contains() will be the same as the == operator for numeric data, or the $== operator for string data.

Examples#

Find whether a matrix contains either 1 or -1#

haystack = { 4  9  2,
            -1  0  3,
             2  2 -1 };

needles = { -1, 1 };

// Search haystack for any match of -1 or 1
found = contains(haystack, needles);

After the above code, found will equal 1, since haystack contains at least one element equal to one of the elements, -1 in this case, of needles.

Find whether a string array contains one of multiple specified missing values#

/*
** Create a string array containing a set of
** possible missing value indicators
*/
missing = "" $| "NaN" $| ".";

variables = "height" $| "weight" $| "" $| "age";

/*
** Search variables for any of the elements
** contained in missing
*/
found = contains(variables, missing);

After the above code, found will equal 1, since variables contains at least one element equal to one of the elements, a null string (“”) in this case, of missing.