A compact way to remove empty rows in a cell array matrix ?

A compact way to remove empty rows in a cell array matrix, as the following one?

>> a

a =

  8×2 cell array

    {'22-Jul-2021 17:00:00'}    {[      49]}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {'27-Jul-2021 20:00:00'}    {[     123]}
    {'28-Jul-2021 06:00:00'}    {[      21]}
    {'29-Jul-2021 13:00:00'}    {[      66]}
    
    

I tried this solution, but is there any more compact way ?

i = cellfun(@isempty,a);
a( any(i,2), : ) = []

a =

  4×2 cell array

    {'22-Jul-2021 17:00:00'}    {[ 49]}
    {'27-Jul-2021 20:00:00'}    {[123]}
    {'28-Jul-2021 06:00:00'}    {[ 21]}
    {'29-Jul-2021 13:00:00'}    {[ 66]}

[Walter Roberson]

That is probably about the best you can do.

In case anyone wants to experiment,

   a = {
    '22-Jul-2021 17:00:00', 49
    [], []
    [], []
    [], []
    [], []
    '27-Jul-2021 20:00:00', 123
    '28-Jul-2021 06:00:00', 21
    '29-Jul-2021 13:00:00', 66 }

a = 8×2 cell array
    {'22-Jul-2021 17:00:00'}    {[      49]}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 double            }    {0×0 double}
    {'27-Jul-2021 20:00:00'}    {[     123]}
    {'28-Jul-2021 06:00:00'}    {[      21]}
    {'29-Jul-2021 13:00:00'}    {[      66]}

[Sim]

Thanks a lot @Walter Roberson, very nice :-)

[Jan]

As long, as the cell does not contain strings (char vectors are okay), cellfun('isempty', a) is faster than using @isempty.

[Sim]

thanks a lot @Jan ! :-)

Answer 1

[Matt J]

   a = {
    '22-Jul-2021 17:00:00', 49
    '', []
    '', []
    '', []
    '', []
    '27-Jul-2021 20:00:00', 123
    '28-Jul-2021 06:00:00', 21
    '29-Jul-2021 13:00:00', 66 }

a = 8×2 cell array
    {'22-Jul-2021 17:00:00'}    {[      49]}
    {0×0 char              }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 char              }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 char              }    {0×0 double}
    {0×0 char              }    {0×0 double}
    {'27-Jul-2021 20:00:00'}    {[     123]}
    {'28-Jul-2021 06:00:00'}    {[      21]}
    {'29-Jul-2021 13:00:00'}    {[      66]}

    

  a= table2cell(rmmissing(cell2table(a)))

a = 4×2 cell array
    {'22-Jul-2021 17:00:00'}    {[ 49]}
    {'27-Jul-2021 20:00:00'}    {[123]}
    {'28-Jul-2021 06:00:00'}    {[ 21]}
    {'29-Jul-2021 13:00:00'}    {[ 66]}

[Matt J]

This was meant to show that you really should be using tables.

[Stephen23]

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1777130-store-cell-arrays-composed-of-datetimes-and-numbers#comment_2309750

[Sim]

@Matt J, cool, thanks a lot!

@Stephen23, many thasnks :-)