def match(v1, v2, nomatch=-1, incomparables=None, start=0):
    """
    Return a vector of the positions of (first)
    matches of its first argument in its second.

    Parameters
    ----------
    v1: array-like
        the values to be matched

    v2: array-like
        the values to be matched against

    nomatch: int
        the value to be returned in the case when
        no match is found.

    incomparables: array-like
        a list of values that cannot be matched.
        Any value in v1 matching a value in this list
        is assigned the nomatch value.
    start: int
        type of indexing to use. Most likely 0 or 1
    """
    # NOTE: This function gets called a lot. If it can
    # be optimised, it should.
    lookup = {}
    for i, x in enumerate(v2):
        if x not in lookup:
            lookup[x] = i

    if incomparables:
        skip = set(incomparables) if incomparables else set()
        lst = [lookup[x]+start
               if x not in skip and x in lookup else nomatch
               for x in v1]
    else:
        lst = [lookup[x]+start
               if x in lookup else nomatch
               for x in v1]
    return lst