Decomposing Matrix into Column Matrices

I have a large nxm matrix, lets call it A, and I want to break it up so that each column of A is now its own nx1 column matrix. So for example if I have:

A=[1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9]

What I want is:

A1=[1 ; 4 ; 7] A2=[2 ; 5 ; 8] A3=[3 ; 6 ; 9]

Is there some function or program that will do this for me?

Thanks

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

I recommend using cell arrays, rather than naming your variables A1, A2, etc:

numberColumns = size(A,2);

a = cell(1, numberColumns);

for nc = 1:numberColumns
    a{nc} = A(:,nc); % Note the curly brackets for a{nc}
end

[Oleg Komarov]

See also faq 4.6.

[Andrei Bobrov]

a = arrayfun(@(i1)A(:,i1),1:size(A,2),'un',0)

[Jan]

@Cyclist: It is worth to include the pre-allocation "a = cell(1, numberColumns)".

[the cyclist]

@Jan: How could I neglect that?! I've edited the code to include preallocation.

[David]

Thanks a lot.