Matlab: Convert cell array of cells into a single cell array

Question

I have, D is a cell array of mismatched cell arrays of strings

A = 

{'abc'; 

'acd' ;

'aaa'}


B = 

{'baa' ;

'bbb'}


C = 

{'acc';

'aaa';

'aad'}

D = { {A}, {B}, {C}}

A, B and C are of different in size and I do not know their size in the first place, so I combined them into D. How do i convert D into a single cell array so that i can write them into an excel sheet?

i.e.

D = 
{'abc' 'baa' 'acc';

'acd' 'bbb' 'aaa';

'aaa' ' '   'aad'}

So in the desired output, supposing we start writing D to A1 in Excel, A1 would be 'abc' and B3 would be ' '? — brodoll
– brodoll, Commented May 14, 2015 at 12:28

Mohsen Nosratinia · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-14 12:32:55Z

1

You can let MATLAB expand the cell array when needed:

F={}; 
for k = 1:numel(D), 
    F(1:numel(D{k}), end+1)=D{k}; 
end

which results in

F = 
    'abc'    'baa'    'acc'
    'acd'    'bbb'    'aaa'
    'aaa'       []    'aad'

If it is important to have empty matrices as empty strings, use

>> F(cellfun('isempty', F))={''}
F = 
    'abc'    'baa'    'acc'
    'acd'    'bbb'    'aaa'
    'aaa'    ''       'aad'

answered May 14, 2015 at 12:32

Mohsen Nosratinia

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Comments

Divakar · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-14 15:23:54Z

This would be a vectorized approach -

D = { {A}, {B}, {C}} %// Code from question (not tinkering with it)

%// Extract all cells data at each cell index position. 
%// In other words, reduce level of cell data storage by one step.
D1 = vertcat(D{:})

%// Get lengths of each cell
lens = cellfun('length',D1)

%// Initialize output cell array
out_cell = cell(max(lens),numel(lens))

%// Mask of valid cell positions in the output
mask = bsxfun(@le,[1:max(lens)]',lens(:).')

%// Store concatenated cell data into masked positions in output
out_cell(mask) = vertcat(D1{:})

Sample run -

>> A,B,C
A = 
    'abc'
    'acd'
    'aaa'
B = 
    'baa'
    'bbb'
C = 
    'acc'
    'aaa'
    'aad'
>> out_cell
out_cell = 
    'abc'    'baa'    'acc'
    'acd'    'bbb'    'aaa'
    'aaa'       []    'aad'

Please note that you could avoid creating D altogether, if you do this at the start -

D1 = {A,B,C}

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