Reordering string arrays if string is >9

Hello, I have a string array that has been sorted but puts 10 next to 1

b = 
  1×6 string array
    "1"    "10"    "3"    "5"    "7"    "r1"

My strings are upto 12.

I want the last element to remain where it is, and to move any strings > 9 if exist to the end -1

i.e.

    "1"    "3"    "5"    "7"  "10"  "r1"

and if I have

    "1"    "10"    "12"    "5"    "7"    "r1"

then to be

    "1"    "5"    "7"   "10"    "12"     "r1"

This is my attempt:

              b
                Id10 = find(contains(b,"10"))               
                
                if Id10>0
                    e=b(Id10); b(Id10)=[]; b(end-1)=e;                  
                    out{j,1}=b;
                    b
                end
                Id11 = find(contains(b,"11"))
                if Id11>0
                    e=b(Id11); b(Id11)=[]; b(end-1)=e;                  
                    out{j,1}=b;
                    b
                end
                Id12 = find(contains(b,"12"))
                if Id12>0
                    e=b(Id12); b(Id12)=[]; b(end-1)=e;                  
                    out{j,1}=b;
                end
                b

but it seems to be over writing the end-1 element

b = 

  1×7 string array

    "1"    "10"    "11"    "12"    "3"    "6"    "r1"
Id10 =

     2
b = 

  1×6 string array

    "1"    "11"    "12"    "3"    "10"    "r1"

Id11 =

     2

b = 

  1×5 string array

    "1"    "12"    "3"    "11"    "r1"

Id12 =

     2

b = 

  1×4 string array

    "1"    "3"    "12"    "r1"

Thanks for any help

[BobH]

This statement shortens the array (same for Id11/12)

b(Id10)=[];

All you were missing is a statement to restore the size, by copying the last element onto the end.

Then you could overwrite end-1

b(end+1) = b(end);  % copy last element onto end
b(Id10)=[];  % remove '10'
b(end-1) = e;  % overwrite end-1

[Jason]

Perfect, thankyou very much!

Answer 1

[BobH]

sort_nat is powerful, and has helped me several times.

An alternative for simple number/not-number values is straightforward

1. find the locations of the numbers
2. sort those
3. append the not-numbers

 z = cellfun(@(X) logical(~isempty(str2num(X))),b);  % z shows locations of number strings
 n = cellfun(@str2num, b(z));  % into numerical
 [~, ix] = sort( n );  % ix tells what order to pull from b
 r = b(ix);  % fill the result using sorted numbers
 r{end+1} = b{~z};  % append the not-numbers

[Jason]

Hi BobH. Its not an issue with numbers and non numbers its when there is a 10, 11 or 12 in my strings, it puts them staight after 1

[Rik]

As it should. You are the one telling Matlab is should be sorting the numbers as text. If you want Matlab to sort the numbers as numbers you can use the code Bob posted.

[Jason]

Oh I see, OK will try it out

[BobH]

Please be aware this solution is tailored somewhat for your specific question - it assumes your numbers are all at the front, and your not-numbers are all at the end. If that isn't true, the sort will return indices that are incorrect for pulling from b.

[Jason]

Thanks Bob, that will always be the case for me

[BobH]

Just for completeness, for those who might have numbers anywhere, here's a more general solution

1. find the locations of the numbers
2. build a new numeric vector, using a placeholder number for the not-numbers. Inf or -Inf are good choices that will sort to the end or the front
3. use the sort index to pull from b

z = cellfun(@(X) logical(~isempty(str2num(X))),b);  % z shows locations of number strings
n(~z) = Inf;   % placeholder value; makes not-strings sort to end 
n(z) = cellfun(@str2num, b(z));
[~, ix] = sort( n );
r = b(ix);

Answer 2

[dpb]

<ileexchange/10959-sort_nat-natural-order-sort>

[Jason]

Thanks, but Im running into an error

b = 

  1×6 string array

    "1"    "3"    "6"    "8"    "9"    "r1"

Index in position 1 exceeds array bounds.

Error in sort_nat (line 62)
	num_val(i,z(i,:)) = sscanf(sprintf('%s ',digruns{i}{:}),'%f');

Error in PlateSeq2JB/LockPositionsButtonPushed (line 693)
               [b,~] = sort_nat(b)