How to build a cell array of strings containing numbers

Question

How would you efficiently build a cell array of strings which contain numbers (in my particular case, a cell array of labels for a legend).

Eg:{'series 1', 'series 2', 'series 3'}

I've tried things along the lines of

sprintf('series %i', {1:10})

but apparently sprintf and cell arrays don't play nice together.

Something like this works if I only want the number, but doesn't work if I want text as well.

cellstr(int2str([1:10]'))

Obviously, it can be done in a loop, but there must be a clever one-liner way of doing this.

Ben · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-27 16:12:07Z

12

I know it's been 4 years but I came across the undocumented function sprintfc which is used to do exactly what you want:

CellArray = sprintfc('series %i',1:3);

CellArray = 

    'series 1'    'series 2'    'series 3'

well... it might be useful to someone I guess.

edited Apr 27, 2015 at 16:12

answered Sep 25, 2014 at 14:01

Ben

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1 Comment

Ben Over a year ago

great! Glad someone found out this post :)

gnovice · Accepted Answer · 2010-06-04 20:03:38Z

6

The functions INT2STR and STRCAT do the trick:

>> cellArray = strcat({'series '},int2str((1:3).')).'

cellArray = 

    'series 1'    'series 2'    'series 3'

edited Jun 4, 2010 at 20:03

answered Jun 4, 2010 at 18:41

gnovice

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Comments

Amro · Accepted Answer · 2010-06-04 20:07:11Z

3

A slightly different way:

cellArray = cellstr( num2str((1:3)', 'series %d') )

or alternatively

cellArray = strcat( num2str((1:3)', 'series %d'), {} )

with the result:

cellArray = 
    'series 1'
    'series 2'
    'series 3'

answered Jun 4, 2010 at 20:07

Amro

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ankostis · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-08 18:47:06Z

3

You can use the one-liner below for more complicated output:

cellarray = arrayfun(@(x) {sprintf('item %d of 3', x)}, 1:3)

cellarray = 

    'item 1 of 3'    'item 2 of 3'    'item 3 of 3'

answered Mar 8, 2013 at 18:47

ankostis

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Leo Over a year ago

Yes! This! You solved my problem, the other solutions dont work for more involved outputs. I originally made a loop that did not work when used as input for legend(): for ii=1:n;cellArray{ii}={sptrinf('n %d, val %0.2f', ii, vals(ii))};end

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