MATLAB: Convert cell array to 3d array

Question

i have cell array which contains multiple elements like this: a={2×1 cell,2×1 cell,2×1 cell;3×1 cell,3×1 cell,3×1 cell}

and every cell contains elements like for example for first row elements are like this:

a{1,1}{1,1}=2

a{1,1}{2,1}=2

a{1,2}{1,1}=1

a{1,2}{2,1}=1

a{1,3}{1,1}=1

a{1,3}{2,1}=-1

i want to convert this cell array into a 3D array. i have tried cell2mat but it gives following error:

"CELL2MAT does not support cell arrays containing cell arrays or objects"

please help.

Answer 1

Assuming that all numeric arrays are of a size that can be concatenated together:

 >> cell2mat(cellfun(@cell2mat,a,'uni',0))
  ans =
       2     1     1
       2     1    -1

You can then use reshape to arrange the data into a 3D array. Or alternatively, use reshape or permute on the intermediate cell array:

 cell2mat(permute(cellfun(@cell2mat,a,'uni',0),[1,3,2]))

As you did not state how you want the dimensions rearranged, it is hard to give more advice than that.