Writing string into array

Hi,

I'm trying to write strings into an array, but for some reason it's not working as expected (and has been working perfectly in other code I have)

So I have in a for loop:

newtimearray(n,:)=[datestr(timestamp,'yy') datestr(timestamp,'mm')... 
datestr(timestamp,'dd') datestr(timestamp,'HH') datestr(timestamp,'MM')... 
datestr(timestamp,'ss') strcat(fileID,'-',num2str(chunkCnt),'.bin') 'normal'];

However, instead of saving every entry into a single cell, it merges everything into one single string.

newtimearray =

16051512100100000000-6.binnormal
16051512400100000001-6.binnormal
16051513100100000002-6.binnormal

As I said, similar code is working fine and I don't see the error.

Thanks :)

[per isakson]

With which releases (of Matlab) did it work and with which did it not?

[per isakson]

See Debug a MATLAB Program

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

You're writing them into a regular character array because you used square brackets, not into a cell array, which requires braces. To see the differences and to learn when to use braces, brackets, and parentheses, see the FAQ: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#What_is_a_cell_array.3F

[Anke Kügler]

I did try curly braces and got the error 'Conversion to char from cell is not possible.'

Also, as I mentioned, the exact same syntax is working with another code.

[Image Analyst]

What kind of array do you want, a cell array, or a character array? And tell me what "timestamp" is.

Answer 2

[Anke Kügler]

This is the code that works, producing a cell-array

for k = 2 : numel(subfolder)                         

wavefiles=dir(char(subfolder(k)));              
fullname=fullfile(char(subfolder(k)),wavefiles(5).name); 

fid = fopen(fullname);                             

fseek(fid,364,'bof');                               

datestring=char(fread(fid,[1, 24],'char'));         

subfolderstr=char(subfolder(k));                   
scene= cellstr(subfolderstr(end-12:end-5));         
recording=cellstr(subfolderstr(end-3:end));         
date=datestr(datenum(sprintf(datestring),'yyyy-mm-ddHH:MM:SS'),'mm/dd/yyyy');   %get date from timestamp
time=datestr(datenum(sprintf(datestring),'yyyy-mm-ddHH:MM:SS'),'HH:MM:SS');     %get time from timestamp

timestamps(k-1,:)=[scene recording date time];      

end

And this is the complete non-working code

%get the timestamp
logid=fopen([inlogpath, inlogfile], 'r');
filetimearr=textscan(logid, '%d %d %d %d %d %d %s %s','headerlines', 1);
yr=filetimearr{1}(n);
mo=filetimearr{2}(n);
dy=filetimearr{3}(n);
hr=filetimearr{4}(n);
mins=filetimearr{5}(n);
sec=filetimearr{6}(n);
type=filetimearr{8}(n);

timestamp=datenum(strcat(num2str(yr),sprintf('%02d',mo),sprintf('%02d',dy),sprintf('%02d',hr),sprintf('%02d',mins),sprintf('%02d',sec)),'yyyymmddHHMMSS'); 

fid=fopen(fullfilename);
[sig,TotalSamples] = fread (fid,inf,'int16');

chunkCnt=1;
Fs=125000;
numSamplesPerChunk = chunkDuration*Fs;

for l=1:numSamplesPerChunk:TotalSamples

fseek(fid,l,'bof');
y=fread(fid, numSamplesPerChunk);

      outFileName = strcat(fileID,'-',num2str(chunkCnt),'.bin');
      fulloutname=fullfile(savepath,outFileName);
      fidsave = fopen(fulloutname,'w');
      fwrite(fidsave,y,'int16');
      fclose(fidsave);
      newtimearray(n,:)=[datestr(timestamp,'yy') datestr(timestamp,'mm') datestr(timestamp,'dd') datestr(timestamp,'HH') datestr(timestamp,'MM') datestr(timestamp,'ss') strcat(fileID,'-',num2str(chunkCnt),'.bin') 'normal'];
      timestamp=addtodate(timestamp,chunkDuration,'second'); 

chunkCnt = chunkCnt + 1; 

end