What is the difference between input of cell array {[Hi]} and {'Hi'}

As the title says,

I have a cell array which contains data in this format

{[Hi]}

but I want to turn it to {'Hi'} so that I can turn the data into a categorical format.

Any suggestions on how to do this?

[KSSV]

How the dat can exist in {[Hi]} ?

[Lucrezia Cester]

I have a cell array, for which each element of the array is a 1x1 categorical element

so

1x1 categorical

1x1 categorical

1x1 categorical

etc

and I want it to become

Hi

Hi

Hi

[the cyclist]

Can you upload the data in a mat file, which will remove all doubt about the format? Use the INSERT icon that looks like a paper clip.

[Adam Danz]

" I want to turn it to {'Hi'} so that I can turn the data into a categorical format."

It sounds like the data are already categorical. For example,

c = categorical({'Hi'});
{c, 'Hi'}

% ans =
%   1×2 cell array
%     {[Hi]}    {'Hi'}

[OMKARAM RAJESHWARA RAJU]

1. from the question: what is difference between {[ Hi ]} , { 'Hi' } ..?

{[ Hi ]} ==> this will produce an error called :::: unrecoginized function variable

instead you have to use :::: { [ 'Hi' ] }

there is no difference between A1 = {'Hi'} and A2 = {['Hi']}

both are 1 * 1 cell arrays

even interms of memory : both will occupy the same 112 bytes of overhead

(or in newest versions 108 bytes of overhead)

but the difference comes when we add next element

A3 = {'Hi' 'Fi'}

A4 = {['Hi' 'Fi']}

A3 is a cell array of size = 1 * 1 ==> {'HiFi'} ==> concatenation

A4 is a cell size = 1 * 2 ==> 'Hi' 'Fi' ==> 2 seperate cells

interms of memory: both have different memory allocation accordingly

2 . CATEGORICAL

the concept of categorical will come only when the input data type has multiple elements.

categorical is a data type that assigns values to a finite set of discrete categories, such as High, Med, and Low. These categories can have a mathematical ordering that you specify, such as High > Med > Low

please go through the documentation of categorical

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/categorical.html?s_tid=srchtitle#bt0v57z-2_1

hope your doubt is cleared...!

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

If you have something that is displaying as

{[Hi]}

then it is a cell array that contains categorical data. If all of the entries in the same cell are scalar categorical, then you can use cell2mat() to convert into an array of categorical. Or if that fails, then [NameOfCell{:}]