How to recode the strings() function?

I have a piece of Matlab code designed for Matlab 2016 and higher. I have Matlab 2015b, which does not have the strings() function.

I the code I'm trying to run, there is this piece of code which returns species_list as an array of strings:

   [IC,sn,~] = xlsread('Initialize.xlsx','IC');
   species_list = strings(length(sn),1);
   [species_list{:}] = sn{:};

The call to strings() returns the error:

Attempt to execute SCRIPT strings as a function:
/home/apps/Mathworks/MATLAB/R2015b/toolbox/matlab/strfun/strings.m
Error in get_data_dictionary (line 55)
    species_list = strings(length(sn),1);

How could I recode from scratch the strings() function? Or is there another workaround? Many thanks!

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

The string data type is new to R2016b.

A possible workaround could be the cellstr function (introduced prior to R2006a).

Experiment to see if it works with the rest of your code.