CODEWITHSUNDEEP
stringmatlab
Kena
Kena

Reputation: 6921

How to build a cell array of strings containing numbers

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.

Upvotes: 9

Views: 11346

Answers (4)

Benoit_11
Benoit_11

Reputation: 13945

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.

Upvotes: 12

ankostis
ankostis

Reputation: 9503

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'

Upvotes: 3

Amro
Amro

Reputation: 124563

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'

Upvotes: 3

gnovice
gnovice

Reputation: 125874

The functions INT2STR and STRCAT do the trick:

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

cellArray = 

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

Upvotes: 6

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