MATLAB: Converting strings in cell array into array

Question

I am trying to solve this problem: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/cody/problems/1899-convert-a-cell-array-into-an-array

It reads a string of characters from the cell array in its column, then goes to the next column and reads that. It puts all that into one string of an array.

I solved the problem for the most part but it ignores spacing for some reason and I have no idea why.

y='';
for i=1:numel(x)
    y = strcat(y, x{i})
 
end

For example, {'hello ' ; 'yes'} would have an output as 'helloyes', instead of 'hello yes'. How do I include that spacing as well?

Since it didn't work, I thought perhaps it was the cell array nuance that didn't let the spacing go through, so I tried using char:

y ='';
for i=1:numel(x)
   y = strcat( y,char(x{i}))
end

but the result is the same.

Could someone explain why it ignores the spacing? Could I manipulate the code a little for it to not ignore the spacing, or do I have to change the entire code?

Thanks in advance 🙂

Answer 1

strcat() has the property that it trims out leading and trailing blanks from parameters that are character vectors. It does not do that for cell array of character vectors. For example, strcat('a', ' b ', 'c') and strcat('a', {' b '}, 'c') will produce different results.