display table in command window without { }

I just updated my Matlab to 2020b.

I created a table:

tt = table({1;2;3;4;5},{'A';'B';'C';'D';[]},{9;10;11;12;[]},{'E';'F';'G';'H';[]})

tt = 5×4 table
    Var1         Var2            Var3            Var4    
    _____    ____________    ____________    ____________

    {[1]}    {'A'       }    {[       9]}    {'E'       }
    {[2]}    {'B'       }    {[      10]}    {'F'       }
    {[3]}    {'C'       }    {[      11]}    {'G'       }
    {[4]}    {'D'       }    {[      12]}    {'H'       }
    {[5]}    {0×0 double}    {0×0 double}    {0×0 double}

In the previous matlab 2018 and lower, it is shown without { }, just the content of the cell. Is it possible to "display" it as before, without the { }?

Answer 1

[Rik]

If you really want to, you can. The formattedDisplayText function was introduced in R2021a.

I read about this one in a Community Highlight blog post.

tt = table({1;2;3;4;5},{'A';'B';'C';'D';''},{9;10;11;12;nan},{'E';'F';'G';'H';''});
str=formattedDisplayText(tt);
strrep(strrep(str,'{',' '),'}',' ')

ans = 
    "    Var1        Var2        Var3         Var4   
         _____    __________    _______    __________
     
          [1]      'A'           [  9]      'E'      
          [2]      'B'           [ 10]      'F'      
          [3]      'C'           [ 11]      'G'      
          [4]      'D'           [ 12]      'H'      
          [5]      0×0 char      [NaN]      0×0 char 
     "

[WG]

Reading some documentation and example, this seems good new function. I will try it after get the 2021b.

[Walter Roberson]

Good point, Rik.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

No, it is not.

However, if you only need that for display purposes, then

tt = table({1;2;3;4;5},{'A';'B';'C';'D';''},{9;10;11;12;nan},{'E';'F';'G';'H';''});


TT = varfun(@(V)categorical(string(V)), tt)

TT = 5×4 table
    Fun_Var1     Fun_Var2       Fun_Var3       Fun_Var4  
    ________    ___________    ___________    ___________

       1        A              9              E          
       2        B              10             F          
       3        C              11             G          
       4        D              12             H          
       5        <undefined>    <undefined>    <undefined>

Notice I had to change the [] to ' ' or nan

[WG]

Thanks. This workaround seems good.

Small "problem" is I have table with some column number, and some string. So I need to replace all the [] either with '' or NaN depend on the column class (manually). Any suggestion to do it automatically?