How can I convert a cell array into a numeric array using MATLAB replacing non-numeric values to NaN?

I have a cell array which contains numeric and non-numeric data. I need to convert this cell array into a numeric array with all the non-numerical elements set to 'NaN'.

I have tried the CELL2MAT function but this function does not work with non-numerical data types.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

The ability to automatically convert cell arrays which contain both numeric and non-numeric data types is not available in MATLAB 7.6 (R2008a).

However, there are a number of ways to programmatically achieve conversion of a cell array to numeric data. One such method using CELLFUN is shown below:

Let x be a cell array containing both numeric and non-numeric data

x = {'text', 34; 45, @(a)2*a}

Find logical indices to all numeric elements of x

numind = cellfun(@isnumeric, x);

Replace non-numeric indices with NaNs

x(~numind) = {NaN}