Convert cell array to vector

Hello everybody,

I have a 1279x1 cell array containing timestamps and I want to convert it as a 1279x1 vector of interpretable time format.

My ultimate goal would be to get a vector with the time differences between 2 successive timestamps and get the mean of this vector.

Then I can calculate the sample rate.

I have absolutely no idea how to deal with cell arrays, so any help would be really nice !

You can see my cell array in the following and the complete cell array as a .mat file :

    {["16:44:53.419"]}
    {["16:44:53.435"]}
    {["16:44:53.468"]}
    {["16:44:53.483"]}
    {["16:44:53.499"]}
    {["16:44:53.515"]}
    {["16:44:53.531"]}
    {["16:44:53.563"]}
    {["16:44:53.579"]}
    {["16:44:53.595"]}
    {["16:44:53.611"]}
    {["16:44:53.627"]}
    {["16:44:53.643"]}
    {["16:44:53.675"]}
    {["16:44:53.691"]}
    {["16:44:53.707"]}
    {["16:44:53.723"]}
    {["16:44:53.739"]}
    {["16:44:53.755"]}
    {["16:44:53.770"]}
    {["16:44:53.787"]}
    {["16:44:53.803"]}
    {["16:44:53.818"]}
    {["16:44:53.835"]}
    {["16:44:53.962"]}
    {["16:44:53.978"]}
    {["16:44:53.994"]}
    {["16:44:54.010"]}
    {["16:44:54.027"]}
    {["16:44:54.042"]}
    {["16:44:54.074"]}
    {["16:44:54.090"]}
    {["16:44:54.106"]}
    {["16:44:54.122"]}
    {["16:44:54.138"]}
    {["16:44:54.154"]}
    {["16:44:54.170"]}
    {["16:44:54.186"]}
    {["16:44:54.202"]}
    {["16:44:54.218"]}
    {["16:44:54.234"]}
    {["16:44:54.266"]}
    {["16:44:54.282"]}
    {["16:44:54.298"]}
    {["16:44:54.314"]}
    {["16:44:54.330"]}

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

S = load('timestamps.mat');
T = vertcat(S.ans{:})

T = 1249×1 string array
    "16:44:28.637"
    "16:44:28.669"
    "16:44:28.685"
    "16:44:28.701"
    "16:44:28.717"
    "16:44:28.733"
    "16:44:28.765"
    "16:44:28.781"
    "16:44:28.797"
    "16:44:28.813"
    "16:44:28.829"
    "16:44:28.957"
    "16:44:28.988"
    "16:44:29.005"
    "16:44:29.021"
    "16:44:29.037"
    "16:44:29.068"
    "16:44:29.085"
    "16:44:29.101"
    "16:44:29.116"
    "16:44:29.132"
    "16:44:29.164"
    "16:44:29.181"
    "16:44:29.196"
    "16:44:29.212"
    "16:44:29.228"
    "16:44:29.260"
    "16:44:29.276"
    "16:44:29.292"
    "16:44:29.308"

M = seconds(mean(diff(duration(T,'InputFormat','hh:mm:ss.SSS'))))

M = 0.0206

[M.Many]

Thanks a lot !

Answer 2

[Cris LaPierre]

T = load('timestamps.mat');

% Convert to a string array
ts = string(T.ans);
% Convert strings to durations
ts = duration(ts,'InputFormat',"hh:mm:ss.SSS","Format","hh:mm:ss.SSS");
% compute the difference between each row
dt = diff(ts);
% calculate the mean
mdt = mean(dt)

mdt = duration
   00:00:00.020

[M.Many]

Thanks for the detailed explanation !