Efficient code - Get rid of my loop

Hi,

I'm reading in some data from a csv file, which for some reason is being read in as strings rather than doubles. Now I need to do some math so need to convert to numbers, but my strings don't all have the same number of characters. Here's an example:

B = {'5085';'10955';'6496';'6497';'2953';'5090'};

The only way I have found to convert this is to use a loop:

for count = 1:size(B,1)
  B{count} = str2num(B{count});
end
B = cell2mat(B);

But there must be a more efficient, quicker, method for achieving this conversion. Any suggestions please?

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

The cellfun function works without the loop:

B = {'5085';'10955';'6496';'6497';'2953';'5090'};
Bn = cellfun(@str2num, B)

Bn =
        5085
       10955
        6496
        6497
        2953
        5090

[jlt199]

Aha, I knew there was something but couldn't think what to look for. Thanks

[Star Strider]

My pleasure.

The str2num and other functions don’t work with cell arrays, but cellfun can make most functions compatible with them.

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

The cellfun is not more efficient then the for loop

Answer 2

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

str2double(B)

[jlt199]

Thank you, that works too :D