~ means NOT so *isempty* tells you if the vector is empty and *~isempty* tells you if the vector is _not_ empty.

if ~isempty(strfind(B, A)) condition 1 else condition 2 end The problem is that, even conceptually, this does not express what you actually want, so it's no wonder it does not work. You're not asking if A is found in B (in which case, using |isempty(strfind(...))| would work). You want to ask either (it's not clear from your question) if A is found in *all* of the Bs, or in *any* of the Bs. That's a completely different question, hence the syntax is different. |strfind| when given a cell array tells you, for each element of B, this is where I found A. Therefore, you have to ask |strfind|: for each element of B is the return value empty. And finally, you have to apply the or operator (depending on what you want) to that answer. So: if any(~cellfun(@isempty, strfind(B, A))) %possibly replace any by all condition1 else condition2 end

There is actually nothing wrong with isempty.

You could use this approach to get it a little less cumbersume:

list1 = [1, 1];
list2 = [2, 2, 2];
list3 = [3, 3, 3, 3];
list4 = [];

yesno = all(~cellfun(@isempty, {list1,list2,list3,list4}))

If you don't mind reorganizing your data, it is a really handy option:

lists{1} = [1, 1];
lists{2} = [2, 2, 2];
lists{3} = [3, 3, 3, 3];
lists{4} = [];

yesno = all(~cellfun(@isempty,lists))

The combination of cellfun and isempty is supposed to be really fast, though I'm lacking the source for this statement right now.

The output of strfind is a cell array. To be considered empty, a cell array must have no cells whatsoever, >> isempty({}) ans = 1 This is different from a cell array containing cells with empty matrices >> c={[]}; >> isempty(c) ans = 0 >> isempty(c{1}) ans = 1

This can be done by using an AND statement in the "if" statement and making sure the "exist" check comes first. As long as the "exist" check is first, MATLAB will only continue on to the rest of the "if" statement ("isempty") if it is true. This way "isempty" will not error. if exist('x') && isempty(x) disp('Exists and empty!') end

Is TEST a cell array? If so use {} to get at the contents (C-urly for C-ontents). The return value {[]} is not empty because it is a length one cell array - the contents of the cell array is an empty array.

You can use isempty. For instance:

>> isempty([])

ans =
     1

>> isempty([42])

ans =
     0

x = {1,[],[],[]}; find(~cellfun(@isempty,x))

Use isempty x = []; isempty(x) Then the answer is ans = logical 1