wilcard usage with strncmp

I have a cell array data (C). I use the following code to find specific character in the C;

find_character = strncmp(C, '*  2020', 7);

How can I use wilcard using strncmp to find all patterns satisfy * [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]? For example, if * 1988 or * 2000 exist in C, they can be also extracted.

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

C = {'hello','*  2020','world','*  1923'};
X = ~cellfun(@isempty,regexp(C,'^\*  \d{4}$'))

X = 1×4 logical array
   0   1   0   1

D = C(X)

D = 1×2 cell array
    {'*  2020'}    {'*  1923'}

[Adam Danz]

Or, if * is a wild card to ignore any preceeding characters,

C = {'adfa 2000', 'xfga 1999', 't 2020', '1000', 'adfadre 12'};
X = ~cellfun(@isempty,regexp(C,'\d{4}','match','once'))

X = 1×5 logical array
   1   1   1   1   0

matches = regexp(C,'\d{4}','match','once')

matches = 1×5 cell array
    {'2000'}    {'1999'}    {'2020'}    {'1000'}    {0×0 char}

[sermet OGUTCU]

My cell array includes multiple characters in one cell such as; {'* 2021 3 28 …'} ('* 2021 3 28 0 0 0.00000000'). Therefore, the above regexp cannot find the * [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9] and it produce the empty D. How I can modify the above codes to work consistently with my cell array.

[Stephen23]

"How I can modify the above codes to work consistently with my cell array."

Remove the '$' from the end of the regular expression:

C = {'hello','*  2020  3 28','world','*  1923'};
X = ~cellfun(@isempty,regexp(C,'^\*  \d{4}'))

X = 1×4 logical array
   0   1   0   1

[sermet OGUTCU]

Thank you very much Stephen.

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

Use the pattern functionality. I think it's easier than regexp().

>> doc pattern