char to double data type

How do I convert the following

164x11 char=

'03-Jan-2018'
'07-Jan-2018'
'07-Jan-2018'..

to 164x11 double=

'03-Jan-2018'
'07-Jan-2018'
'07-Jan-2018'

I want the elements to remain the same and just change the data type

[Ameer Hamza]

No, it is not possible. And why do you want to do that?

[Waqas Siddique]

I have 4 variables

a=164x11 double

b=164x11 double

c=164x11 double

d=164x11 char

I am using the command to display

e=[a,b,c,d]

so I get an error

Error using datetime/horzcat (line 1335)

All inputs must be datetimes or date/time character vectors or date/time strings.

Answer 1

[dpb]

Deprecated (and not recommended) would be

dn=datenum(yourdatechararray,'dd-mmm-yyyy');

which, of course, returns the datenum associated with the date; to get the representation use datestr. But, dn is a double.

The present (and recommended) way to handle dates is to use datetime instead --

dt=datetime(yourdatechararray,'InputFormat','dd-MMM-yyyy');

NB: the input format string representations are NOT the same between the two.

dt is its own class of datetime array, not a double. But, one can do comparisons of equality, greater/less than, etc., as well as plot and such have been extended to recognize the class as inputs.

[Waqas Siddique]

datenum is changing the date to numbers.

I want to display these types together

a=164x11 double=1,2,3...

b=164x11 double=1,2,3...

c=164x11 double=1,2,3...

d=164x11 char=

'03-Jan-2018'

'07-Jan-2018'

'07-Jan-2018'..

I am using the command to display

e=[a,b,c,d]

How can I display the different data types together

[Waqas Siddique]

e=

1 1 1 737063

2 2 2 737067

3 3 3 737067

Right now I am getting this

[Walter Roberson]

fprintf() or compose() -- you will probably find compose() easier.

[dpb]

Or, depending upon what you mean, exactly, by "display", put them in a table and the ML table data display will handle automagically...

ADDENDUM:

Oh, I see Steven L already suggested via timetable..."great minds ..." :)

Answer 2

[Steven Lord]

I recommend turning the character data representing dates into a datetime array and using that datetime array along with your double data to create a timetable.