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C = setdiff(A,B) returns the data in A that is not in B, with no repetitions. C is in sorted order.

If A and B are tables or timetables, then setdiff returns the rows from A that are not in B. For timetables, setdiff takes row times into account to determine equality, and sorts the output timetable C by row times.

C = setdiff(A,B,'rows') treats each row of A and each row of B as single entities and returns the rows from A that are not in B, with no repetitions. C is in sorted order.

The 'rows' option does not support cell arrays, unless one of the inputs is either a categorical array or a datetime array.

[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B) also returns the index vector ia.

Generally, C = A(ia).
If A and B are tables or timetables, then C = A(ia,:).

[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B,'rows') also returns the index vector ia, such that C = A(ia,:).

[C,ia] = setdiff(___,setOrder) returns C in a specific order using any of the input arguments in the previous syntaxes. setOrder can be 'sorted' or 'stable':

'sorted' — C is in sorted order. This is the default.
'stable' — C is in the same order as A.

[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B,'legacy') and [C,ia] = setdiff(A,B,'rows','legacy') preserve the behavior of the setdiff function from R2012b and prior releases.

The 'legacy' option does not support categorical arrays, datetime arrays, duration arrays, tables, or timetables.

Examples

Difference of Two Vectors

Define two vectors with values in common.

A = [3 6 2 1 5 1 1];
B = [2 4 6];

Find the values in A that are not in B.

C = setdiff(A,B)

C =

     1     3     5

Difference of Two Tables

Define two tables with rows in common.

A = table([1:5]',['A';'B';'C';'D';'E'],logical([0;1;0;1;0]))

A = 

    Var1    Var2    Var3 
    ____    ____    _____

    1       A       false
    2       B       true 
    3       C       false
    4       D       true 
    5       E       false

B = table([1:2:10]',['A';'C';'E';'G';'I'],logical(zeros(5,1)))

B = 

    Var1    Var2    Var3 
    ____    ____    _____

    1       A       false
    3       C       false
    5       E       false
    7       G       false
    9       I       false

Find the rows in A that are not in B.

C = setdiff(A,B)

C = 

    Var1    Var2    Var3 
    ____    ____    _____

    2       B       true 
    4       D       true

Difference of Two Vectors and Indices to Different Values

Define two vectors with values in common.

A = [3 6 2 1 5 1 1];
B = [2 4 6];

Find the values in A that are not in B as well as the index vector ia, such that C = A(ia).

[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B)

C =

     1     3     5


ia =

     4
     1
     5

Difference of Two Tables and Indices to Different Rows

Define a table, A, of gender, age, and height for five people.

A = table(['M';'M';'F';'M';'F'],[27;52;31;46;35],[74;68;64;61;64],...
'VariableNames',{'Gender' 'Age' 'Height'},...
'RowNames',{'Ted' 'Fred' 'Betty' 'Bob' 'Judy'})

A = 

             Gender    Age    Height
             ______    ___    ______

    Ted      M         27     74    
    Fred     M         52     68    
    Betty    F         31     64    
    Bob      M         46     61    
    Judy     F         35     64

Define a table, B, with the same variables as A.

B = table(['F';'M';'F';'F'],[64;68;62;58],[31;47;35;23],...
'VariableNames',{'Gender' 'Height' 'Age'},...
'RowNames',{'Meg' 'Joe' 'Beth' 'Amy'})

B = 

            Gender    Height    Age
            ______    ______    ___

    Meg     F         64        31 
    Joe     M         68        47 
    Beth    F         62        35 
    Amy     F         58        23

Find the rows in A that are not in B, as well as the index vector ia, such that C = A(ia,:).

[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B)

C = 

            Gender    Age    Height
            ______    ___    ______

    Judy    F         35     64    
    Ted     M         27     74    
    Bob     M         46     61    
    Fred    M         52     68    


ia =

     5
     1
     4
     2

The rows of C are in sorted order first by Gender and next by Age.

Difference of Rows in Two Matrices

Define two matrices with rows in common.

A = [7 9 7; 0 0 0; 7 9 7; 5 5 5; 1 4 5];
B = [0 0 0; 5 5 5];

Find the rows from A that are not in B as well as the index vector ia, such that C = A(ia,:).

[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B,'rows')

C =

     1     4     5
     7     9     7


ia =

     5
     1

Difference of Two Vectors with Specified Output Order

Use the setOrder argument to specify the ordering of the values in C.

Specify 'stable' or 'sorted' when the order of the values in C are important.

A = [3 6 2 1 5 1 1];
B = [2 4 6];
[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B,'stable')

C =

     3     1     5


ia =

     1
     4
     5

Alternatively, you can specify 'sorted' order.

 [C,ia] = setdiff(A,B,'sorted')

C =

     1     3     5


ia =

     4
     1
     5

Difference of Vectors Containing NaNs

Define two vectors containing NaN.

A = [5 NaN NaN];
B = [5 NaN];

Find the set difference of A and B.

C = setdiff(A,B)

C =

   NaN   NaN

setdiff treats NaN values as distinct.

Cell Array of Character Vectors with Trailing White Space

Create a cell array of character vectors, A.

A = {'dog','cat','fish','horse'};

Create a cell array of character vectors, B, where some of the vectors have trailing white space.

B = {'dog ','cat','fish ','horse'};

Find the character vectors in A that are not in B.

[C,ia] = setdiff(A,B)

C =

  1×2 cell array

    'dog'    'fish'


ia =

     1
     3

setdiff treats trailing white space in cell arrays of character vectors as distinct characters.

Difference of Char and Cell Array of Character Vectors

Create a character vector, A.

A = ['cat';'dog';'fox';'pig'];
class(A)

ans =

char

Create a cell array of character vectors, B.

B={'dog','cat','fish','horse'};
class(B)

ans =

cell

Find the character vectors in A that are not in B.

C = setdiff(A,B)

C =

  2×1 cell array

    'fox'
    'pig'

The result, C, is a cell array of character vectors.

class(C)

ans =

cell

Preserve Legacy Behavior of setdiff

Use the 'legacy' flag to preserve the behavior of setdiff from R2012b and prior releases in your code.

Find the difference of A and B with the current behavior.

A = [3 6 2 1 5 1 1];
B = [2 4 6];
[C1,ia1] = setdiff(A,B)

C1 =

     1     3     5


ia1 =

     4
     1
     5

Find the difference of A and B, and preserve the legacy behavior.

[C2,ia2] = setdiff(A,B,'legacy')

C2 =

     1     3     5


ia2 =

     7     1     5

Input Arguments

`A,B` — Input arrays
numeric arrays | logical arrays | character arrays | string arrays | categorical arrays | datetime arrays | duration arrays | cell arrays of character vectors | tables | timetables

Input arrays, specified as numeric arrays, logical arrays, character arrays, string arrays, categorical arrays, datetime arrays, duration arrays, cell arrays of character vectors, tables, or timetables. If you specify the 'rows' option, A and B must have the same number of columns.

A and B must belong to the same class with the following exceptions:

logical, char, and all numeric classes can combine with double arrays.
Cell arrays of character vectors can combine with character arrays or string arrays.
Categorical arrays can combine with character arrays, cell arrays of character vectors, or string arrays.
Datetime arrays can combine with cell arrays of date character vectors or single date character vectors.

There are additional requirements for A and B based on data type:

If A and B are both ordinal categorical arrays, they must have the same sets of categories, including their order. If neither A nor B are ordinal, they need not have the same sets of categories, and the comparison is performed using the category names. In this case, the categories of C are the sorted union of the categories from A and B.
If A and B are tables or timetables, they must have the same variable names (except for order). For tables, row names are ignored, so that two rows that have the same values, but different names, are considered equal. For timetables, row times are taken into account, so that two rows that have the same values, but different times, are not considered equal.
If A and B are datetime arrays, they must be consistent with each other in whether they specify a time zone.

A and B also can be objects with the following class methods:

sort (or sortrows for the 'rows' option)
eq
ne

The object class methods must be consistent with each other. These objects include heterogeneous arrays derived from the same root class. For example, A and B can be arrays of handles to graphics objects.

`setOrder` — Order flag
`'sorted'` (default) | `'stable'`

Order flag, specified as 'sorted' or 'stable', indicates the order of the values (or rows) in C.

Order Flag	Meaning
`'sorted'`	The values (or rows) in `C` return in sorted order. For example: `C = setdiff([4 1 3 2],[2 1],'sorted')` returns `C = [3 4]`.
`'stable'`	The values (or rows) in `C` return in the same order as in `A`. For example: `C = setdiff([4 1 3 2],[2 1],'stable')` returns `C = [4 3]`.

Output Arguments

`C` — Difference of `A` and `B`
vector | matrix | table | timetable

Difference of A and B, returned as a vector, matrix, table, or timetable. If the inputs A and B are tables or timetables, then the order of the variables in C is the same as the order of the variables in A.

The following describes the shape of C when the inputs are vectors or matrices and when the 'legacy' flag is not specified:

If the 'rows' flag is not specified and A is a row vector, then C is a row vector.
If the 'rows' flag is not specified and A is not a row vector, then C is a column vector.
If the'rows' flag is specified, then C is a matrix containing the rows of A that are not in B.
If all the values (or rows) of A are also in B, then C is an empty matrix.

The class of C is the same as the class of A, unless:

A is a character array and B is a cell array of character vectors, in which case C is a cell array of character vectors.
A is a character vector, cell array of character vectors, or string, and B is a categorical array, in which case C is a categorical array.
A is a cell array of character vectors or single character vector and B is a datetime array, in which case C is a datetime array.
A is a character vector or cell array of character vectors and B is a string array, in which case C is a string array.

`ia` — Index to `A`
column vector

Index to A, returned as a column vector when the 'legacy' flag is not specified. ia identifies the values (or rows) in A that are not in B. If there is a repeated value (or row) appearing exclusively in A, then ia contains the index to the first occurrence of the value (or row).

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