String comparison in MATLAB - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of strcmp with different cases

What is the output of this MATLAB code snippet?

MATLAB

result = strcmp('Hello', 'hello');
disp(result);

A Error: Undefined function or variable 'strcmp'.

B 1

C 0

D 2

💡 Hint

strcmp is case-sensitive and returns 1 if strings match exactly.

strcmp compares two strings exactly, including case. 'Hello' and 'hello' differ in case, so strcmp returns 0.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Using strcmpi for case-insensitive comparison

What will this MATLAB code display?

MATLAB

result = strcmpi('MATLAB', 'matlab');
disp(result);

A 1

B Error: Undefined function or variable 'strcmpi'.

C 0

D NaN

💡 Hint

strcmpi compares strings ignoring case differences.

strcmpi returns 1 because it ignores case and the strings match.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Comparing string arrays with strcmp

What is the output of this code?

MATLAB

A = {'cat', 'dog', 'bird'};
B = {'cat', 'Dog', 'bird'};
result = strcmp(A, B);
disp(result);

A [1 0 1]

B [1 1 1]

C [0 0 0]

D Error: Cell contents reference from a non-cell array object.

💡 Hint

strcmp compares each pair of strings element-wise and is case-sensitive.

The second elements differ in case ('dog' vs 'Dog'), so strcmp returns 0 for that element.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Behavior of isequal with strings

What does this MATLAB code print?

MATLAB

str1 = 'Test';
str2 = 'test';
result = isequal(str1, str2);
disp(result);

A 1

B 0

C Error: Undefined function or variable 'isequal'.

D NaN

💡 Hint

isequal compares values exactly, including case.

isequal returns 0 because 'Test' and 'test' differ in case.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Understanding strcmp return values

Which option correctly describes the return value of strcmp when comparing two strings in MATLAB?

A It returns a string 'true' or 'false' depending on the comparison.

B It returns the number of matching characters at the start of the strings.

C It returns the ASCII difference between the first non-matching characters.

D It returns a logical 1 if the strings are exactly the same, otherwise logical 0.

💡 Hint

Think about what strcmp returns when strings match exactly.

strcmp returns logical 1 (true) if strings match exactly, else logical 0 (false). It does not return counts or ASCII differences.