Problem converting cell to string

I want to convert my cell

U={[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4],[3,5],[3,6]}

to a string that would look like this:

StringFromU ='[[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4],[3,5],[3,6]]';

I've tried using this:

   A = cell2mat(U)
  allOneStringUUU = sprintf('%.0f,' , A);
  allOneStringUUU = allOneStringUUU(1:end-1)

that gives this output

allOneStringUUU =

1,4,1,5,1,6,2,4,2,5,2,6,3,4,3,5,3,6

but i still need all of the [ and ] to be added. Could you please help me?

P.S. That U cell can be different size, so something like this

U={[1,4],[1,5]}

Should still be converted to this string:

StringFromU ='[[1,4],[1,5]]';

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

See if this does what you want:

U={[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4],[3,5],[3,6]};
Ud = reshape(cell2mat(U'), [], 2);
Out = sprintf('[%.0f,%.0f],', Ud');
Out = sprintf('[%s]', Out(1:end-1))

Out =
[[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4],[3,5],[3,6]]

[Tom Lichen]

That's wonderful! It does exactly what i wanted. Thank you,

[Star Strider]

As always, my pleasure!

Answer 2

[James Tursa]

If the individual cells can have more than two elements, e.g.,

U={[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4,5],[3,5],[3,6,9]};
vec2str = @(v) ['[' sprintf('%.0f,' , v(1:end-1)) sprintf('%.0f' , v(end)) '],'];
Ucells = cellfun(vec2str,U,'uni',false);
Ustrings = [Ucells{:}];
Ustring = ['[' Ustrings(1:end-1) ']']

Ustring =
[[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4,5],[3,5],[3,6,9]]

Answer 3

[dpb]

Well, you've just got to work on writing the proper format string(s) to use when you need them...an example specifically for the first (entered at command line; reformatted here to illustrate more clearly)--

>> s='[';
>> for i=1:length(U)-1,
     s=[s sprintf('[%d,%d],',U{i})];
   end,
   s=[s sprintf('[%d,%d]]',U{end})];
>> s
s =
[[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4],[3,5],[3,6]]
>>

In general you'll want to build a format string dynamically using the count of the arrays (repmat is very useful in this as in

fmt=['[' repmat('[%d,',1,N) '%d'];

for example. "Salt to suit" to make as generic as needs be depending on the form of inputs you must handle.

ADDENDUM

Had a few more minutes...

>> fmt=['[' repmat(['[' repmat('%d,',1,size(U{1},2)-1) '%d],'],1,numel(U)-1) '[%d,%d]]'];
>> s=sprintf(fmt,U{:})
s =
[[1,4],[1,5],[1,6],[2,4],[2,5],[2,6],[3,4],[3,5],[3,6]]
>>

As shows, not difficult, just tedious. Fortran FORMAT is MUCH more conducive to such shenanigans; while I grok why TMW went to the C-style to use the builtin libraries when converted Matlab to C, it's a sorry, sorry convention... :(