MATLAB Programming

2 Data Types
C5 =
'Jan' 'Feb' 'Mar' 'Apr' 'May' 'Jun'
'10' '17' '31' '2' '10' '23'
[2004] [2001] [2006] [2005] [1994] [2002]
Preallocating Cell Arrays with the cell Function
The cell function enables you to preallocate empty cell arrays of the specified
size. For example, this statement creates an empty 20-by-30 cell array:
B = cell(20, 30);
Use assignment statements to fill the cells of B.
It is more efficient to preallocate a cell array of a required size using the cell
function and then assign data into it, than to grow a cell array as you go along
using individual data assignments. The cell function, therefore, offers the
most memory-efficient way of preallocating a cell array.
Memory Requirements for Cell Arrays
You do not necessarily need a contiguous block of memory to store a cell array.
The memory for each cell needs to be contiguous, but not the entire array
of cells.
Referencing Cells of a Cell Array
Because a cell array can contain different types of data stored in various
array sizes, cell array indexing is a little more complex than indexing into a
numeric or character array.
This section covers the following topics on constructing a cell array:
• “Manipulating Cells and the Contents of Cells” on page 2-101
• “Working With Arrays Within Cells” on page 2-104
• “Working With Structures Within Cells” on page 2-104
• “Working With Cell Arrays Within Cells” on page 2-105
• “Plotting the Cell Array” on page 2-106
2-100