convert matrix from hexadecimal to decimal

I have a large square matrix in hexadecimal notation and i need to transform it to decimal. for instance consider this:

A = [af 2 3; a2 b 9; c d f];

I want the result in the form:

A = [175 2 3;162 11 9; 12 13 15];

Since I have a very large matrix so I am not able to write {'af'} instead of [af] e.t.c.

[Jan]

Please start with providing the inputs in valid Matlab syntax. "[af 2 3; a2 b 9; c d f]" is not working as input. Now it matters if you mean:

A = {'af', '2', '3'; 'a2', 'b', '9'; 'c', 'd', 'f'}

or

A = ['af 2 3'; 'a2 b 9'; 'c d f']

or maybe this is a string found in a text file?

What does "not able to write {'af'} instead of [af] e.t.c" exactly mean? Where do the inputs come from?

[tanveer haq]

There is nothing behind the input. I have an input matrix in hexadecimals and want to calculate its decimal form. Often, research papers, related to my research, includes these type of matrice and we have to process it in matlab. Is there any other simple way or a code that make this process?

Answer 1

[Stephan]

Hi,

you could use hex2dec - depending on your input format / input data type this will work or not. I think this is why Jan asked in his comment. Consider the following examples:

>> A = ["af", "2", "3"; "a2", "b", "9"; "c", "d", "f"]

A = 

  3×3 string array

    "af"    "2"    "3"
    "a2"    "b"    "9"
    "c"     "d"    "f"

>> A = hex2dec(A)

A =

   175     2     3
   162    11     9
    12    13    15

or:

>> A = {'af', '2', '3'; 'a2', 'b', '9'; 'c', 'd', 'f'}

A =

  3×3 cell array

    {'af'}    {'2'}    {'3'}
    {'a2'}    {'b'}    {'9'}
    {'c' }    {'d'}    {'f'}

>> A = hex2dec(A)

A =

   175
   162
    12
     2
    11
    13
     3
     9
    15

but the following is not really helpul::

>> A = ['af', '2', '3', 'a2', 'b', '9', 'c', 'd', 'f']

A =

    'af23a2b9cdf'

>> whos A
  Name      Size            Bytes  Class    Attributes

  A         1x11               22  char               

>> A = hex2dec(A)

A =

   1.2035e+13

or consider the following, which gives an error message:

>> A = ['af 2 3 a2 b 9 c d f']
  
A =

    'af 2 3 a2 b 9 c d f'

>> whos A
  Name      Size            Bytes  Class    Attributes

  A         1x19               38  char               

>> A = hex2dec(A)
Error using hex2dec>hex2decImpl (line 58)
Input to hex2dec should have just 0-9, a-f, or A-F.

Error in hex2dec (line 21)
        d = hex2decImpl(h);

but the following is working, by using the split function::

>> A = ['af 2 3 a2 b 9 c d f']

A =

    'af 2 3 a2 b 9 c d f'

>> A= split(A," ")

A =

  9×1 cell array

    {'af'}
    {'2' }
    {'3' }
    {'a2'}
    {'b' }
    {'9' }
    {'c' }
    {'d' }
    {'f' }

>> A = hex2dec(A)

A =

   175
     2
     3
   162
    11
     9
    12
    13
    15        

This 9x1 result can be reshaped easily:

A = reshape(A,3,3)

to get a 3x3 matrix by using the reshape function.

So you have to think about how you import the data to matlab and then you can easily convert the hexadecimal format to decimal notation. But, as shown, it strongly depends on how your data is formatted.

Best regards

Stephan

[tanveer haq]

Thank you Stephan . The split function is a bit easier than the rest.