Creating a more complex data structure in Matlab?

Question

I need some help with creating a data structure in Matlab. Until now I needed the following:

string1 value1
string2 value2
string3 value3

and so on. I used a structure for this:

mystruct = struct('mystrings', {}, 'myvalues', {});

Now additional to string and values I now need to assign several arrays (column vectors, containing only numbers) to my string-value pairs. It can be different, how many arrays are assigned to a string-value pair, e.g.

string1 value1 [1;2] [1;3]
string2 value2 [9;10]
string3 value3 [3;4] [2;9] [0;3]

I don't know how to create such a data structure. It's probably not a problem for me to get rid of a structure at all if it's the wrong data structure now. I need help on creating the new data structure, though. Thanks for any help :-)

Sardar Usama · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-16 15:08:58Z

6

There are always a lot of options when considering a "right" data structure. Some options:

You could assign a cell array to each field of your structure.
You would write to such a structure like this:

data.field1{1} = 'a string';
data.field1{2} = [1 2 3 4];
data.field1{3} = [5:2:10];
data.field2{1} = 'another string'

and you would read it like this:

allValueInACellArray = data.field1;
onlyTheThirdValue = data.field1{3};

You could use a nested structure.
Then a write looks like this:

data.field1.name = 'some name';
data.field1.firstarray = [1 2 3 4];
data.field1.secondarray = [5:2:10];
data.field2.name = 'another name';

and reads look like this:

justTheFirstName = data.field1.name;
onlyTheSecondArray = data.field1.firstArray;

Another construct I use a lot is an array of structures.
Combining this with a cell-valued field, a write looks like:

data(1).name = 'some name';
data(1).arrays = {[1 2 3 4]  5:2:10};
data(2).name = 'another name';
data(2).arrays = {[5 6 7 8]  6:3:12};

There is usually not a right answer to this. For small programs it doesn't really matter, you should just choose whatever feels most natural to you. For performance-limited applications you need to consider things like efficient memory allocation, and fast access to data in the manner which you usually need to access it.

edited Jun 16, 2017 at 15:08

Sardar Usama

19.7k9 gold badges39 silver badges60 bronze badges

answered Jun 27, 2012 at 5:20

Pursuit

12.4k1 gold badge28 silver badges42 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Phillip Cloud Over a year ago

Nice answer. Clearly MATLAB is not a language designed for creating expressive data structures.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Creating a more complex data structure in Matlab?

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related