Extracting strings between different characters from a cell array without loop

Hello,

I would like to rewrite the code below to remove the loop. I assume I need to use cellfun but after several attempts I am not managing.

In the following cell array, I need to extract the characters between "LS=" and "DS=", between "DS=" and "CS=", and between "CS=" and "]" and save them in their corresponsing field in a table.

This is how my orgiginal cell array looks like (I've cut it to 3 rows but there are actually a lot more in my dataset):

commentO =

  3×1 cell array

    {'LS=Students201509DS=Teachers201509CS=ConfigVS=English]'  }
    {'LS=Preschoolers201801DS=Students201910CS=AbsVS=Italian]' }
    {'LS=Preschoolers201902DS=Assistants201902CS=NAVS=Italian]'}

This is the code I have written to extract the strings I need and store them in their corresponding field in a table:

commentO = {'LS=Students201509DS=Teachers201509CS=ConfigVS=English]'; 'LS=Preschoolers201801DS=Students201910CS=AbsVS=Italian]'; 'LS=Preschoolers201902DS=Assistants201902CS=NAVS=Italian]'};
MyDataTable = table;
MyDataTable.LS = cell(size(commentO));
MyDataTable.DS = cell(size(commentO));
MyDataTable.CS = cell(size(commentO));
MyDataTable.VS = cell(size(commentO));

for i = 1:length(commentO)
    tempStr = commentO{i,1};
    MyDataTable.LS{i} = tempStr(strfind(tempStr, 'LS=')+3:(strfind(tempStr, 'DS=')-1));
    MyDataTable.DS{i} = tempStr(strfind(tempStr, 'DS=')+3:(strfind(tempStr, 'CS=')-1));
    MyDataTable.CS{i} = tempStr(strfind(tempStr, 'CS=')+3:(strfind(tempStr, 'VS=')-1));
    MyDataTable.VS{i} = tempStr(strfind(tempStr, 'VS=')+3:(end-1));
end

It takes ages so if someone could help me out with the correct cellfun call to do this much more efficiently. I would be very grateful.

Thank you very much.

Best Regards;

Cecile

[dpb]

cellfun alone is unlikely to make much difference performance-wise--it's just a loop under the hood.

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

>> C = {'LS=Students201509DS=Teachers201509CS=ConfigVS=English]'
    'LS=Preschoolers201801DS=Students201910CS=AbsVS=Italian]'
    'LS=Preschoolers201902DS=Assistants201902CS=NAVS=Italian]'};
>> [M,S] = regexp(C,'[A-Z]S=','match','split');
>> M = strrep(vertcat(M{:}),'=','');
>> S = strrep(vertcat(S{:}),']','');
>> T = cell2table(S(:,2:end),'VariableNames',M(1,:))
T = 
             LS                     DS               CS          VS    
    ____________________    __________________    ________    _________
    'Students201509'        'Teachers201509'      'Config'    'English'
    'Preschoolers201801'    'Students201910'      'Abs'       'Italian'
    'Preschoolers201902'    'Assistants201902'    'NA'        'Italian'

[Cecile]

Thank you very much, that's amazing.