CODEWITHSUNDEEP
regexstringmatlabsplit
nullgeppetto
nullgeppetto

Reputation: 569

Parse a string of pre-specified format in MATLAB

I would like to parse a string in MATLAB that has a prespecified format. For instance, I would like to parse the following string,

s = 'a(1,2)+b_c15_d.ext'

so that I can get the substring before '(', i.e., the substring 'a', the numbers that are between the parentheses, i.e, 1 and 2, and so on (the substring 'b' between the '+' and '_', and the substring 'd' before the extension).

I can do it using regexp and split, but is there a more convenient way of doing this?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 91

Answers (2)

Wolfie
Wolfie

Reputation: 30046

Using regexp and split really isn't that inconvenient, you can do it nicely in 2 lines

r = regexp(s,'[()\+_(_c)(.ext)]', 'split');
r = r(~cellfun(@isempty, r))

>> r = {'a' '1,2' 'b' '15' 'd'}

I'm not sure if this is similar to what you'd already tried, since you didn't post any code.

Upvotes: 2

informaton
informaton

Reputation: 1482

I could do it using regexp and 'split', but I hope there is a more convenient way of doing so.

textscan offers a simple, perhaps convenient, alternative to regexp and split.

 a = textscan(s,'%c(%d,%d)+%c_%c%d_%c.ext');

The results are in order as:

 >> a = 

     'a'    [1]    [2]    'b'    'c'    [15]    'd'

If you are going to have more than one character for your substring, %c to a modified %[] (character string) depending on your needs. For example:

a = textscan(s,'%[^(](%d,%d)+%[^_]_%[^_]_%[^.].ext')

The %[^(] above will collect characters from the string until the string ends or a '(' is reached on the string and place the result in the first cell of the output. The '(' is still on the string/stream however, so we remove it directly, by reading it, as shown.

sscanf is another option, but manipulating the output format is more involved.

Upvotes: 2

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