How to extract 1st digit of each number in an array

Can anyone pls tell me what if x is an array of numbers can we seperate the 1st digit of each entry ..Like if x = [12 34 56 999 430 2]

and i want output out= [1 3 5 9 4 2]

Answer 1

[madhan ravi]

out=cellfun(@(c)c(1),""+x)-'0'

Answer 2

[Stephen23]

Simpler efficient numeric operations, without multiple type conversions:

>> x  = [12,34,56,999,430,2]
x =
    12    34    56   999   430     2
>> fix(x./10.^fix(log10(x)))
ans =
     1     3     5     9     4     2