Ask an expert. Trust the answer.

Your academic and career questions answered by verified experts

Convert cell array of cell arrays to matrix of matrices

Date: 2022-07-29 10:41:17

I can convert a cell array of matrices to matrix: 

 

>> C={[1,1]; [2,2]; [3,3]};
>> cell2mat(C)
ans =
     1     1
     2     2
     3     3

This is OK. But, I want to convert a cell array including other cell arrays to a matrix: 

 

>> C={{1,1}; {2,2}; {3,3}};    
>> cell2mat(C)
Error using cell2mat (line 53)
Cannot support cell arrays containing cell arrays or objects.

So, desired output is: 

 

>> mycell2mat({{1,1}; {2,2}; {3,3}})
ans =
     1     1
     2     2
     3     3

How to do this?

Edit:

I want to do same thing for multidimensional ones also: 

 

>> mycell2mat({{1,1;1,1}; {2,2;2,2}; {3,3;3,3}})
ans(:,:,1) =

     1     1
     1     1

ans(:,:,2) =

     2     2
     2     2

ans(:,:,3) =

     3     3
     3     3

Answers: 

To be honest, I never liked cell2mat for being slow, so I've come up an alternative solution using comma-separated lists instead!

Transform a cell array of vectors 

This is fairly simple, just use the colon operator and concatenate all vectors vertically: 

 

C = {[1,1]; [2,2]; [3,3]};
A = vertcat(C{:})

and so we get: 

 

A =
    1   1
    2   2
    3   3

Transform a cell array of cell arrays

This is a bit trickier. Since it's a cell array of cell arrays, we'll have to obtain a vector of all elements by a double use of the colon and horzcat, and then reshape it into the desired matrix. 

 

C = {{1,1}; {2,2}; {3,3}};
V = [size(C{1}), 1]; V(find(V == 1, 1)) = numel(C);
A = reshape([horzcat(C{:}){:}], V)

and so we get: 

 

A =
    1   1
    2   2
    3   3

The manipulation of V makes sure that A is reshaped correctly without having to specify the output dimensions explicitly (unfortunately, I didn't find a one liner for this). This also works for multi-dimensional cell arrays as well: 

 

C = {{1, 1; 1, 1}; {2, 2; 2, 2}; {3, 3; 3, 3}};
V = [size(C{1}), 1]; V(find(V == 1, 1)) = numel(C);
A = reshape([horzcat(C{:}){:}], V)

A(:,:,1) = 
    1   1
    1   1

A(:,:,2) =   
    2   2
    2   2

A(:,:,3) =    
    3   3
    3   3

P.S

I think the correct result for the last example should be a 6-by-2 matrix instead of a 2-by-2-by-3. However, that is not what you requested, so it's off-topic. 

 


Why Matlabhelpers ?

Our Matlab assignment helpers for online MATLAB assignment help service take utmost care of your assignments by keeping the codes simple yet of high-quality. We offer the most reliable MATLAB solutions to students pursuing their Computer Science course from the Monash University, the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the University of Melbourne; to name a few. Approach us today for best Matlab solutions online!

whatsApp order on matlabhelpers.com

telegram order on matlabsolutions.com