Compare current iteration with previous one?

How can I compare the current iteration in a loop with the previous one?

For example, I want to see if an element in the matrix, which is part of a structure, is lower than that same element, but from the previous iteration (obviously these aren't the same values, but the same elements, just different iterations).

    a=rand(20,1);
    field = 'field';
    for h=1:20
        value = 1.4*rand(20,1);
        value1 = zeros(20,1);
        mystruct(h) = struct(field,value);
        NEWstruct(h) = struct(field,value1);
    end

    for j=1:20
        if mystruct(1).field(j,1)<a(j,1)
            NEWstruct(1).field(j,1)=mystruct(1).field(j,1);
        else
            NEWstruct(1).field(j,1)=a(j,1);
        end
    end

Now after this I have to see if next iteration `mystruct(2).field(j,1)` is lower than previous iteration `NEWstruct(1).field(j,1)`, and if it is, assign it's value to `NEWstruct(2).field(j,1)`. If it's not, then it should be equal to `mystruct(1).field(j,1)`, and so on for the rest of the 20 iterations. Is it possible to do that with if statement or should it be done with other method?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Have you considered using min() ?

[Drazen Tubic]

min() does the trick. Thank you