has

Check if expression contains particular subexpression

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Syntax

has(expr,subexpr)

Description

has(expr,subexpr) returns logical 1 (true) if expr contains subexpr. Otherwise, it returns logical 0 (false).

  • If expr is an array, has(expr,subexpr) returns an array of the same size as expr. The returned array contains logical 1s (true) where the elements of expr contain subexpr, and logical 0s (false) where they do not.

  • If subexpr is an array, has(expr,subexpr) checks if expr contains any element of subexpr.

example

Examples

Check If Expression Contains Particular Subexpression

Use the has function to check if an expression contains a particular variable or subexpression.

Check if these expressions contain variable z.

syms x y z
has(x + y + z, z)
ans =
  logical
   1
has(x + y, z)
ans =
  logical
   0

Check if x + y + z contains the following subexpressions. Note that has finds the subexpression x + z even though the terms x and z do not appear next to each other in the expression.

has(x + y + z, x + y)
has(x + y + z, y + z)
has(x + y + z, x + z)
ans =
  logical
   1
ans =
  logical
   1
ans =
  logical
   1

Check if the expression (x + 1)^2 contains x^2. Although (x + 1)^2 is mathematically equivalent to the expression x^2 + 2*x + 1, the result is a logical 0 because has typically does not transform expressions to different forms when testing for subexpressions.

has((x + 1)^2, x^2)
ans =
  logical
   0

Expand the expression and then call has to check if the result contains x^2. Because expand((x + 1)^2) transforms the original expression to x^2 + 2*x + 1, the has function finds the subexpression x^2 and returns logical 1.

has(expand((x + 1)^2), x^2)
ans =
  logical
   1

Check If Expression Contains Any of Specified Subexpressions

Check if a symbolic expression contains any of subexpressions specified as elements of a vector.

If an expression contains one or more of the specified subexpressions, has returns logical 1.

syms x
has(sin(x) + cos(x) + x^2, [tan(x), cot(x), sin(x), exp(x)])
ans =
  logical
   1

If an expression does not contain any of the specified subexpressions, has returns logical 0.

syms x
has(sin(x) + cos(x) + x^2, [tan(x), cot(x), exp(x)])
ans =
  logical
   0

Find Matrix Elements Containing Particular Subexpression

Using has, find those elements of a symbolic matrix that contain a particular subexpression.

First, create a matrix.

syms x y
M = [sin(x)*sin(y), cos(x*y) + 1; cos(x)*tan(x), 2*sin(x)^2]
M =
[ sin(x)*sin(y), cos(x*y) + 1]
[ cos(x)*tan(x),   2*sin(x)^2]

Use has to check which elements of M contain sin(x). The result is a matrix of the same size as M, with 1s and 0s as its elements. For the elements of M containing the specified expression, has returns logical 1s. For the elements that do not contain that subexpression, has returns logical 0s.

T = has(M, sin(x))
T =
  2×2 logical array
     1     0
     0     1

Return only the elements that contain sin(x) and replace all other elements with 0 by multiplying M by T elementwise.

M.*T
ans =
[ sin(x)*sin(y),          0]
[             0, 2*sin(x)^2]

To check if any of matrix elements contain a particular subexpression, use any.

any(has(M(:), sin(x)))
ans =
  logical
   1
any(has(M(:), cos(y)))
ans =
  logical
   0

Find Vector Elements Containing Any of Specified Subexpressions

Using has, find those elements of a symbolic vector that contain any of the specified subexpressions.

syms x y z
T = has([x + 1, cos(y) + 1, y + z, 2*x*cos(y)], [x, cos(y)])
T =
  1×4 logical array
     1     1     0     1

Return only the elements of the original vector that contain x or cos(y) or both, and replace all other elements with 0 by multiplying the original vector by T elementwise.

[x + 1, cos(y) + 1, y + z, 2*x*cos(y)].*T
ans =
[ x + 1, cos(y) + 1, 0, 2*x*cos(y)]

Use has for Symbolic Functions

If expr or subexpr is a symbolic function, has uses formula(expr) or formula(subexpr). This approach lets the has function check if an expression defining the symbolic function expr contains an expression defining the symbolic function subexpr.

Create a symbolic function.

syms x
f(x) = sin(x) + cos(x);

Here, sin(x) + cos(x) is an expression defining the symbolic function f.

formula(f)
ans =
cos(x) + sin(x)

Check if f and f(x) contain sin(x). In both cases has checks if the expression sin(x) + cos(x) contains sin(x).

has(f, sin(x))
has(f(x), sin(x))
ans =
  logical
   1
ans =
  logical
   1

Check if f(x^2) contains f. For these arguments, has returns logical 0 (false) because it does not check if the expression f(x^2) contains the letter f. This call is equivalent to has(f(x^2), formula(f)), which, in turn, resolves to has(cos(x^2) + sin(x^2), cos(x) + sin(x)).

has(f(x^2), f)
ans =
  logical
   0

Check for Calls to Particular Function

Check for calls to a particular function by specifying the function name as the second argument. Check for calls to any one of multiple functions by specifying the multiple functions as a cell array of character vectors.

Integrate tan(x^7). Determine if the integration is successful by checking the result for calls to int. Because has finds the int function and returns logical 1 (true), the integration is not successful.

syms x
f = int(tan(x^7), x);
has(f, 'int')
ans =
  logical
   1

Check if the solution to a differential equation contains calls to either sin or cos by specifying the second argument as {'sin','cos'}. The has function returns logical 0 (false), which means the solution does not contain calls to either sin or cos.

syms y(x) a
sol = dsolve(diff(y,x) == a*y);
has(sol, {'sin' 'cos'})
ans =
  logical
   0

Input Arguments

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Expression to test, specified as a symbolic expression, function, equation, or inequality. Also it can be a vector, matrix, or array of symbolic expressions, functions, equations, and inequalities.

Subexpression to test for, specified as a symbolic variable, expression, function, equation, or inequality, or a character vector, or a cell array of character vectors. subexpr can also be a vector, matrix, or array of symbolic variables, expressions, functions, equations, and inequalities.

Tips

  • has does not transform or simplify expressions. This is why it does not find subexpressions like x^2 in expressions like (x + 1)^2. However, in some cases has might find that an expression or subexpression can be represented in a form other than its original form. For example, has finds that the expression -x - 1 can be represented as -(x + 1). Thus, the call has(-x - 1, x + 1) returns 1.

  • If expr is an empty symbolic array, has returns an empty logical array of the same size as expr.

Version History

Introduced in R2015b

See Also

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