How do I split cells in an array and save data into a bigger cell array?

Hi,

I have a cell array of 20x1, with each cell containing information that I need to split up in 10 strings. How to I make a new array of 20x10, containing all the information?

arr = {'hello i welcome you';'what is your name';'nice to meet you'};

output = { 'hello','i','welcome','you';'what','is','your','name';'nice','to','meet','you'};

I tried the following:

for i = 1:size(arr,1)
    intercept = char(arr(i,:));
    newarr{i,:} = strsplit(intercept,' ');
end

But this just leaves me with a 20x1 cell array, containing 20 1x10 cell arrays.

Thanks guys!!

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

Use a comma-separated list to help concatenate them into one cell array or string array:

>> arr = {'hello i welcome you';'what is your name';'nice to meet you'};
>> out = regexp(arr,'\w+','match');
>> out = [out{:}]; % comma-separated list
>> size(out)
ans =
    1   12

Checking the contents:

>> out{:}
ans = hello
ans = i
ans = welcome
ans = you
ans = what
ans = is
ans = your
ans = name
ans = nice
ans = to
ans = meet
ans = you

See also:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/comma-separated-lists.html

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/320713-how-to-operate-on-comma-separated-lists

[Judith Voortman]

Halfway there! But I do need columns and vectors, as I'm working with a table (e.g. i would want to know the first word of every sentence). Can i transform this into a 4x3 cell?

[Stephen23]

"Can i transform this into a 4x3 cell?"

out = reshape(out,3,4).'

Answer 2

[Sulaymon Eshkabilov]

Here is one of the possible solutions:

arr = {'hello i welcome you';'what is your name';'nice to meet you'};
output = { 'hello','i','welcome','you';'what','is','your','name';'nice','to','meet','you'};
for i = 1:length(arr)
    intercept = char(arr(i,:));
    newdata{i,:} = strsplit(intercept, {' ', ','},'CollapseDelimiters',true);
end

[Judith Voortman]

Still gives me a 20x1 cell array, containing 1x13 cell arrays...

Answer 3

[Sulaymon Eshkabilov]

Here is the alternative solution:

arr = {'hello i welcome you';'what is your name';'nice to meet you'};
for i = 1:length(arr)
    intercept = char(arr(i,:));
    newdata(i,:) = strsplit(intercept, {' ', ','},'CollapseDelimiters',true);
end
for ii=1:length(newdata)
    for jj=1:length(newdata{1})
    output(ii, jj)=newdata{ii}(jj);
    end
end