how to recognize if an element of a cell array is a char vector

Good morning to everyone,

I am writing a code which takes all the 'n' variable inputs (varargin) and creates a (n/2)x2 cell array. It Is a name value pair function, so input arguments are coming in pairs.

Since the first column must contain only name, I have to check that they are not number, and return and empty cell array if they are.

Unfortunately the ischar or isnumeric commands are not working since varargin() with () indices gives a cell array and ischar is false for cell array.

An example is C = name_value_pairs('name', 'John Smith', 'age', 32, 'children', {'Bill' 'Cloe'})

C =

3×2 cell array

{'name' } {'John Smith'}

{'age' } {[ 32]}

{'children'} {1×2 cell }

But with C = name_value_pairs('name', 'John Smith', 34, 32, 'children', {'Bill' 'Cloe'}), I Should obtain an empty C.

Can anyone help me please?

Answer 1

[Yazan]

c = {'name', 'John Smith'; 'age', 32; 'children', cell(1,2)}

c = 3×2 cell array
    {'name'    }    {'John Smith'}
    {'age'     }    {[        32]}
    {'children'}    {1×2 cell    }

cellfun(@ischar, c)

ans = 3×2 logical array
   1   1
   1   0
   1   0

[Umberto Filippi]

Thank you very much!