unique

Arguments

M

vector, matrix, or hypermatrix of booleans, numbers, or text. Numeric or boolean sparses are accepted.

orient

flag with possible values : 1 or "r", 2 or "c". It can't be used if M is an hypermatrix.

U

• If orient is not used: Vector of extracted M components sorted in ascending order. If M is a row vector, U is also a row vector. In all other M cases, U is a column vector.

• If orient is used: Matrix of extracted M rows or columns, sorted in lexicographic ascending order.

If M is sparse, then U is always sparse.

km

Vector of indices of first encountered occurrences, such that U = M(km) or U = M(km,:) or U = M(:,km).

km is a row if M is a row or if orient="c" is used. Otherwise it's a column.

ku

Array of indices in U, such that, according to the orient option

• "*": ku is of size size(M), and U(ku) = M
• "r": ku is of size [size(M,1), 1], and U(ku,:) = M
• "c": ku is of size [1, size(M,2)], and U(:,ku) = M

ku is dense, even when M is sparse and the overall "*" mode is used.

nb

Vector of integers > 0, with the same km shape: Numbers of occurrences in M of respective unduplicated entities (components, rows, columns) returned in U.

Description

unique(M) returns a vector which retains the unique entries of M in ascending order.

unique(M,"r") or unique(M,1) removes all duplicates of M rows and returns unique rows in lexicographic ascending order.

unique(M,"c") or unique(M,2) removes all duplicates of M columns and returns unique columns in lexicographic ascending order.

unique(M,.. "keepOrder") returns M unduplicated entries in their original order in M. "keepOrder" is case-insensitive.

unique(M,.. "uniqueNan") considers all Nan values as the same one, and unduplicates them. By default, any Nan is different from any other Nan, including itself: %nan<>%nan is true, unless "uniqueNan" is used. Specifying "uniqueNan" is case-insensitive.

For booleans, unique(…) is useful mainly with the "r" or "c" options.

Complex numbers are sorted first by increasing magnitudes, then by increasing phases on [-π,π].

Examples

With some numbers:

M = int8([2  0  2  2  1  1  1  2  1  1  0  1  1  0  1  1
          0  1  2  0  1  2  2  0  1  1  2  0  1  0  0  0
          ])
[u, km] = unique(M)
[uc, kmc] = unique(M, "c")

--> M
 M =
  2  0  2  2  1  1  1  2  1  1  0  1  1  0  1  1
  0  1  2  0  1  2  2  0  1  1  2  0  1  0  0  0

--> [u, km] = unique(M)
 u  =
  0
  1
  2

 km  =
   2.
   4.
   1.

--> [uc, kmc] = unique(M, "c")
 uc  =
  0  0  0  1  1  1  2  2
  0  1  2  0  1  2  0  2

 kmc  =
   14.   2.   11.   12.   5.   6.   1.   3.

With complex numbers:

i = %i;
c = [1+i, 1-i, -i, i, -i, 1+i]
[u, k] = unique(c)
[uc, kc] = unique(c, "c")

--> c = [1+i, 1-i, -i, i, -i, 1+i]
 c  =
   1. + i    1. - i    0. - i    0. + i    0. - i    1. + i

--> [u, k] = unique(c)
 u  =
   0. - i    0. + i    1. - i    1. + i
 k  =
   3.   4.   2.   1.

--> [uc, kc] = unique(c, "c")
 uc  =
   0. - i    0. + i    1. - i    1. + i
 kc  =
   3.   4.   2.   1.

With some texts:

t = ["BA" "BB" "AB" "BA" "AB" "BA" "AB" "AB" "BA" "AA" "AB" "BA" "BA" "BA" "AA"
     "AA" "AB" "AA" "AA" "BB" "BB" "BB" "BA" "AB" "AB" "BB" "BB" "AB" "AB" "AA"
    ]
u = unique(t)'
[u, kt, ku, nb] = unique(t(1,:))
[u, kt] = unique(t(1,:), "keepOrder")  // In original order of row#1 elements
[uc, ktc, kuc, nb] = unique(t, "c")
[uc, ktc, kuc, nb] = unique(t, "c", "keepOrder")  // In original order of columns
[and(t(:,ktc)==uc), and(uc(:,kuc)==t) ]

--> t = ["BA" "BB" "AB" "BA" "AB" "BA" "AB" "AB" "BA" "AA" "AB" "BA" "BA" "BA" "AA"
  >      "AA" "AB" "AA" "AA" "BB" "BB" "BB" "BA" "AB" "AB" "BB" "BB" "AB" "AB" "AA"
  >     ]
 t  =
!BA  BB  AB  BA  AB  BA  AB  AB  BA  AA  AB  BA  BA  BA  AA  !
!AA  AB  AA  AA  BB  BB  BB  BA  AB  AB  BB  BB  AB  AB  AA  !

--> u = unique(t)'
 u  =
!AA  AB  BA  BB  !

--> [u, kt, ku, nb] = unique(t(1,:)); u, kt, nb
 u  =
!AA  AB  BA  BB  !

 kt  =
   10.   3.   1.   2.

 nb  =
   2.   5.   7.   1.

--> [u, kt] = unique(t(1,:), "keepOrder")  // Keeping the original order
 u  =
!BA  BB  AB  AA  !

 kt  =
   1.   2.   3.   10.

--> [uc, ktc, kuc, nb] = unique(t, "c")
 uc  =
!AA  AA  AB  AB  AB  BA  BA  BA  BB  !             Sorted columns
!AA  AB  AA  BA  BB  AA  AB  BB  AB  !

 ktc  =
   15.   10.   3.   8.   5.   1.   9.   6.   2.

 nb  =
   1.   1.   1.   1.   3.   2.   3.   2.   1.

--> [uc, ktc, kuc, nb] = unique(t, "c", "keepOrder")  // Keeping the original order
 uc  =
!BA  BB  AB  AB  BA  AB  BA  AA  AA  !
!AA  AB  AA  BB  BB  BA  AB  AB  AA  !

 ktc  =
   1.   2.   3.   5.   6.   8.   9.   10.   15.

 nb  =
   2.   1.   1.   3.   2.   1.   3.   1.   1.

--> [and(t(:,ktc)==uc), and(uc(:,kuc)==t) ]
 ans  =
  T  T

With Nan (and Inf) values. "uniqueNan" option:

M = [2  2  %nan  1     2  0     1  %nan  0    %nan
     1  0  1     %nan  0  %inf  0  1     %inf 1
    ];
[v, km, kv, n] = unique(M); v',n'
[v, km, kv, n] = unique(M, "uniqueNan"); v',n'
unique(M, "c")
[v, kmc, kvc, n] = unique(M, "c", "uniqueNan")

--> M
 M  =
   2.   2.   Nan   1.    2.   0.    1.   Nan   0.    Nan
   1.   0.   1.    Nan   0.   Inf   0.   1.    Inf   1.

--> [v, km, kv, n] = unique(M); v',n'
 ans  =
   0.   1.   2.   Inf   Nan   Nan   Nan   Nan

 ans  =
   5.   6.   3.   2.   1.   1.   1.   1.

--> [v, km, kv, n] = unique(M, "uniqueNan"); v',n'
 ans  =
   0.   1.   2.   Inf   Nan

 ans  =
   5.   6.   3.   2.   4.

--> unique(M, "c")
 ans  =
   0.    1.   1.    2.   2.   Nan   Nan   Nan
   Inf   0.   Nan   0.   1.   1.    1.    1.

--> [v, kmc, kvc, n] = unique(M, "c", "uniqueNan")
 v  =
   0.    1.   1.    2.   2.   Nan
   Inf   0.   Nan   0.   1.   1.

 kmc  =
   6.   7.   4.   2.   1.   3.

 n  =
   2.   1.   1.   2.   1.   3.

See also

• members — count (and locate) in an array each element or row or column of another array
• gsort — sorts boolean, numerical and string arrays
• vectorfind — locates occurences of a (wildcarded) vector in a matrix or hypermatrix
• grep — find matches of a string in a vector of strings
• union — Set of all elements, rows, or columns of two arrays, without duplicates
• intersect — elements or rows or columns met in both input arrays, without duplicates

History