## STRNCMP String Compare Function To Length N

Section: String Functions

### USAGE

Compares two strings for equality, but only looks at the first N characters from each string. The general syntax for its use is

      p = strncmp(x,y,n)

where `x` and `y` are two strings. Returns `true` if `x` and `y` are each at least `n` characters long, and if the first `n` characters from each string are the same. Otherwise, it returns `false`. In the second form, `strncmp` can be applied to a cell array of strings. The syntax for this form is

      p = strncmp(cellstra,cellstrb,n)

where `cellstra` and `cellstrb` are cell arrays of a strings to compare. Also, you can also supply a character matrix as an argument to `strcmp`, in which case it will be converted via `cellstr` (so that trailing spaces are removed), before being compared.

### Example

The following piece of code compares two strings:

    --> x1 = 'astring';
    --> x2 = 'bstring';
    --> x3 = 'astring';
    --> strncmp(x1,x2,4)

    ans =
     0

    --> strncmp(x1,x3,4)

    ans =
     1

Here we use a cell array strings

    --> x = {'ast','bst',43,'astr'}

    x =
     [ast] [bst] [43] [astr]

    --> p = strncmp(x,'ast',3)

    p =
     1 0 0 1

Here we compare two cell arrays of strings

    --> strncmp({'this','is','a','pickle'},{'think','is','to','pickle'},3)

    ans =
     1 0 0 1

Finally, the case where one of the arguments is a matrix string

    --> strncmp({'this','is','a','pickle'},['peter ';'piper ';'hated ';'pickle'],4);