MATLAB: Find the closest element in each row of an array to each element of a vector

Question

Hi,

I am looking to find the closest element (an its index) in each row of an array to each element of a vector. which means I would have a vector for each element of a vector. something like this:

a = [1 2 3];
b = [2 1 3;
     5 2 3;
     4 5 1];

and I want to have

       ans = [1 2 1   %for the first element of vector or 1 (closest elements of
                      % each row of array to the first element of the vector)
              2 2 1   %for the second element of vector or 2
              3 3 4]  %for the third element of vector or 3

for two vectors I can use this, e.g.:

 b = [2 3 4 5]
 [err,err_ind] = min(abs(bsxfun(@minus,a,b')));

but I have no idea how can I do the same when b is an array (without using loop).

Answer 1

a = [1 2 3];
b = [2 1 3; 
     5 2 3; 
     4 5 1];
[~,err_ind] = min(abs(bsxfun(@minus,reshape(a,1,1,[]),b)),[],2);
out = squeeze(err_ind);