Find if point lays on line segment
Find the distance of point P from both the line end points A, B. If AB = AP + PB, then P lies on the line segment AB.
AB = sqrt((x2-x1)*(x2-x1)+(y2-y1)*(y2-y1)+(z2-z1)*(z2-z1));
AP = sqrt((x-x1)*(x-x1)+(y-y1)*(y-y1)+(z-z1)*(z-z1));
PB = sqrt((x2-x)*(x2-x)+(y2-y)*(y2-y)+(z2-z)*(z2-z));
if(AB == AP + PB)
return true;
If the point is on the line then:
(x - x1) / (x2 - x1) = (y - y1) / (y2 - y1) = (z - z1) / (z2 - z1)
Calculate all three values, and if they are the same (to some degree of tolerance), your point is on the line.
To test if the point is in the segment, not just on the line, you can check that
x1 < x < x2, assuming x1 < x2, or
y1 < y < y2, assuming y1 < y2, or
z1 < z < z2, assuming z1 < z2
First take the cross product of AB and AP. If they are colinear, then it will be 0.
At this point, it could still be on the greater line extending past B or before A, so then I think you should be able to just check if pz is between az and bz.
This appears to be a duplicate, actually, and as one of the answers mentions, it is in Beautiful Code.