MATLAB: How to order values within a cell array more efficiently?

Question

I have a 3×12 cell array called "ratings"

   ratings= {'AAA','AA','A','A-','BBB-','BB+','BB','BB-','B+','B','B-','CCC+';
             'A','A-','AA','AAA','B','B+','B-','BB','BB+','BB-','BBB-','CCC+';
             1,1,1,3,11,16,18,1,1,17,16,14};

• The first row of the array has the ratings in the desired order
• The second row has the ratings disordered
• The third row contains a number associated with the ratings in the second row

I wrote the following code:

orderedratings=cell(1,length(ratings))
for i=1:length(ratings);
      for j=1:length(ratings)
          if strcmp(ratings(1,i),ratings(2,j))==1
              orderedratings(i)=ratings(3,j);
          end
      end
  end

and it allows me to reorder the third row in respect to the ordered first row, such that:

 orderedratings={1,6,8,2,18,3,1,21,17,12,10,1}

Is there a way to do the same more efficiently, or another way without "for" conditionals?? It is very much appreciated a different appoach.

Antonio Espana

Answer 1

The following should work regardless of the ordering of the two rows:

[~,idx] = ismember(ratings(1,:),ratings(2,:));
orderedratings = ratings(3,idx)