How to sort the cell with string based on dates (earliest date should begin first)

I want to sort the following cell

{'(Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020), (Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'}

into

{'(Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020), (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'}

Thank you

[the cyclist]

Can you please verify that you really have a cell array with just one element, which contains just one character array?

C = {'(Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020), (Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'}

C = 1×1 cell array
    {'(Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020), (Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'}

C{:}

ans = '(Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020), (Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'

And then you want the output to also be a one-element cell array? It seems more likely to me that you actually have a cell array with multiple elements, and you just wrote it out wrong here, and the solution will be very different depending on the input.

[Geerthy Thambiraj]

Hi. Thank you very much for your response.

I have attached the screenshot of the cell array I have for your reference.

Thank you.

[dpb]

screenshot is useless for anybody to do anything with; my old eyes can't even make it out with the sienna tone overlaying it. We'd have to try to read enough of that to make up something useful to try to do something with; that's just not an effective use of volunteers' time here...

Attach the actual cell array itself (save to a .mat file, then attach it w/ the paperclip)

"Help us help you!"

[Geerthy Thambiraj]

Thank you for your suggestions.

Answer 1

[Paul]

Hi Geerthy,

Here is one approach. Some of the steps can be combined if fewer lines of code are desired.

c = {'(Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020), (Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'};
s = split(c,",")

s = 4×1 cell array
    {'(Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020)'}
    {' (Z98.1 10/15/2020)'                  }
    {' (Z98.1 10/9/2020)'                   }
    {' (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'                  }

d = datetime(reverse(extractAfter(extractBefore(reverse(s)," "),1)))

d = 4×1 datetime array
   13-Oct-2020
   15-Oct-2020
   09-Oct-2020
   20-Nov-2020

[~,index] = sort(d);
s = s(index);
s = strtrim(s)

s = 4×1 cell array
    {'(Z98.1 10/9/2020)'                    }
    {'(Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020)'}
    {'(Z98.1 10/15/2020)'                   }
    {'(Z98.1 11/20/2020)'                   }

s = join(s,", ")

s = 1×1 cell array
    {'(Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020), (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'}

% {'(Z98.1 10/9/2020), (Z98.1 Z47.89 Z98.1 Z98.1 10/13/2020), (Z98.1 10/15/2020),  (Z98.1 11/20/2020)'}

[Geerthy Thambiraj]

Thank you very much, Paul.