Check if cell contains another cell

Hey,

I need to check if my cell contains another cell or if the contant is a character vector.

So I got a

a=1x130 cell

and

a{1}='1-v1';
a{2}='.*'
a{3}='3+v2'
a{4}=1x3 cell
...
    

So e need to check wether the cell content is a character vector like a{1} or a{3}, contains an operater such as a{2}, or a cell itsself with the same structure as a

Then I wanna

eval('(1-v1).*(3+v2)')

So with

ischar

I can check wether its .* or an character arry, but how do I check if its a subcell, to call the fiunction recursive?

Best regards

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

a{1}='1-v1';
a{2}='.*';
a{3}='3+v2';
a{4}={'this is a cell'};

cellfun(@iscell,a)

ans = 1×4 logical array
   0   0   0   1

[Marc Laub]

For the data segs (attached below), the output i

cellfun(@iscell,segs)=logical [1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1...]

not sure why

[the cyclist]

Can you upload the data (rather than the image)? You can use the paper clip icon in the INSERT section of the toolbar.

[Marc Laub]

Sure, voila. though image would be enough

[the cyclist]

The image really isn't enough. I can't run the following code -- which exposes the fact the first cell really does contain another cell -- on your image.

load(websave("segs","https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/uploaded_files/1163423/testdata.mat"),"segs");

segs(1)

ans = 1×1 cell array
    {1×1 cell}

segs{1}

ans = 1×1 cell array
    {'1-a5pre'}

segs{1}{1}

ans = '1-a5pre'

segs(2)

ans = 1×1 cell array
    {'.*'}

segs{2}

ans = '.*'

I think you were getting fooled by the fact that the Variable Editor interface seems to look inside 1x1 cells.

[Marc Laub]

Yeah, guess the variable editor shows directly the string within the cell when its a 1x1 cell...

Answer 2

[Jiri Hajek]

Hi,

you can use the isa function:

isa(a{i},'cell')

Note that the use of eval is not recommended for many a good reason...

[Marc Laub]

I know that eval is not recommended, but its just for debugging, will not be in the final code.

Somehow

isa

as well as

iscell

gives me a a logical 1 for a{1} and a{3}, but a false for a{2} nd all other muliplicaters, although those are also character arrays.

For the following data, my desired putput would be logical 1 for indices 11,15,17,... and a zero otherwise. Unfortunately; as I said, isa and iscell both give me the wrong output, when the character array start with an operater or dot, such as index 2,4,6 or 8...

[Jiri Hajek]

I believe you have got your answer already, as the cyclist pointed out the fact that variable viewer is not a reliable way to check the class of data, rather a viewer that helps you to analyze data. And we can trust the isa/iscell commands, which is not really surprising, considering how long they have been a part of MATLAB...