Programming |
Creating Cell Arrays
cell
function, then assigning data to cells
Creating Cell Arrays with Assignment Statements
You can build a cell array by assigning data to individual cells, one cell at a time. MATLAB automatically builds the array as you go along. There are two ways to assign data to cells:
Enclose the cell subscripts in parentheses using standard array notation. Enclose the cell contents on the right side of the assignment statement in curly braces {}
. For example, create a 2-by-2 cell array A
:
Note
The notation {} denotes the empty cell array, just as [] denotes the empty matrix for numeric arrays. You can use the empty cell array in any cell array assignments.
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Enclose the cell subscripts in curly braces using standard array notation. Specify the cell contents on the right side of the assignment statement:
The various examples in this guide do not use one syntax throughout, but attempt to show representative usage of cell and content addressing. You can use the two forms interchangeably.
MATLAB displays the cell array A
in a condensed form:
To display the full cell contents, use the celldisp
function. For a high-level graphical display of cell architecture, use
cellplot
.
If you assign data to a cell that is outside the dimensions of the current array, MATLAB automatically expands the array to include the subscripts you specify. It fills any intervening cells with empty matrices. For example, the assignment below turns the 2-by-2 cell array A
into a 3-by-3 cell array.
Cell Array Syntax: Using Braces
The curly braces {}
are cell array constructors, just as square brackets are numeric array constructors. Curly braces behave similarly to square brackets, except that you can nest curly braces to denote nesting of cells (see Nesting Cell Arrays for details).
Curly braces use commas or spaces to indicate column breaks and semicolons to indicate row breaks between cells. For example,
Use square brackets to concatenate cell arrays, just as you do for numeric arrays.
Preallocating Cell Arrays with the cell Function
The cell
function allows you to preallocate empty cell arrays of the specified size. For example, this statement creates an empty 2-by-3 cell array:
Use assignment statements to fill the cells of B:
The cell
function offers the most memory-efficient way of preallocating a cell array.
Memory Requirements for Cell Arrays
You do not necessarily need a contiguous block of memory to store a cell array. The memory for each cell needs to be contiguous, but not the entire array of cells.
Cell Arrays | Obtaining Data from Cell Arrays |
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