MATLAB: Convert matrix to vector of structs

structstructurestructuresvectorvectorizingvectors

I wish to convert a matrix to a vector of structs, such that each column of the matrix is represented by a struct.
The problem with the code
M = struct('a',[1 2 8],'b',[2 1 3])
is that I cannot index into M directly by entering
M(1)
or
M(2)
etc… After forming the vector of structs, I need to be able to delete the i-th row (or the i-th field of every struct in the vector.
For example, suppose I have a vector of structs representing people. The vector is named "people", and it has two structs, "name" and "age". I need to be able to refer to all people over the age of 40 using the following code:
people(people.age>40)
or retrieve the names of all people between the age of 20 and 30 using the following code:
people(people.age>=20 & people.age<=30).name
I would greatly appreciate any help.

Best Answer

Here's the solution I ultimately used and prefer, where "M" is a real matrix:
data = struct( 'id', M(:,11), ... 
               'PSAtests', M(:,1), ... 
               'PSAestimate', M(:,3), ... 
               'PSA', M(:,10), ... 
               'isActual', 1-M(:,4), ... 
               'age', M(:,5), ... 
               'cancer', M(:,6), ... 
               'cancerAge', M(:,7), ... 
               'biopsy', M(:,8), ... 
               'biopsyAge', M(:,9) );
Then, if I wish to modify "data", I use the function "subsetstruct" which is part of Matlog, provided at the following URL:
http://www.ise.ncsu.edu/kay/matlog/MatlogRef.htm#subsetstruct
To use "subsetstruct", I simply create a logical index array and can create a new struct which is a subset of my "data" struct, for example:
olderpatients = subsetstruct(data,data.age>80);
I'm very happy with this solution. And thanks for everyone's help.
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