Need help with 'Undefined function or method 'minus' for input arguments of type 'cell'

I can't understand why I keep getting this error. A similar script does not experience this. Below is the snippet of code causing the error. scan_acquisition_time is of char type. ScanValue is of double type.

Please can someone help?

    scan_acquisition_time = cellstr(num2str(MLTdata(2:end,3)/(1000*60),4)); % Convert to minutes

    lowestDifference = 9999999;
    lowestPos = 0;
    for i = 1:length(scan_acquisition_time)
       currentDifference = abs(scan_acquisition_time(i) - ScanValue);
       if currentDifference == 0
           nearestRT = i;
           break;
       else
           if currentDifference < lowestDifference
              lowestDifference = currentDifference;
              lowestPos = i;
           end
           % Check to see if this is the lowest
           nearestRT = lowestPos;
       end
    end

Answer 1

[Eugene]

 scan_acquisition_time

Is a cell array of strings so you cannot do this

 abs(scan_acquisition_time(i) - ScanValue)

in your code. Not sure why its converted to a string but you should have:

 scan_acquisition_time = MLTdata(2:end,3)/(1000*60);

Then it should work (assuming the rest of the code is OK :)).

[Philip Spratt]

Thank you Eugene, very much appreciated.