MATLAB: Isequal vs. visdiff for .mat files

Question

Hello,

I'm trying to compare two mat files to see if there are any differences between them. These mat files contain inputs and outputs of a trajectory model I've created, and are comprised of structures, strings, doubles, cells, etc.

When I use isequal, it returns a '0' indicating they are not equal. But when I use visdiff to compare them it does not find any differences.

visdiff says " The variables in these files are identical, but the files are not. The differences may be caused by file formats, file timestamps, or the order in which the variables are stored."

The variables are in the same order. What is the timestamp? Can it be ignored?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Timestamps can be ignored. If you were to save the same data twice, it would record the time of each save and so the files would not be identical.

However, how are you using isequal() on the .mat files? Are you load()'ing the content and using isequal() on the structures, or are you using isequal() on the file names ?