MATLAB: Need to convert from cell to numeric matrix of the same size

convert cell array to matrix

I have C= 5×1 cell array. need to convert it to a numeric matrix. I am executing the following 3 commands and attaching their outputs. what I need is output of E but with the size same as C. struggling for a couple of hours now.
D=str2double(C)
E=cell2mat(C)
F=str2num(C)
C =
5×1 cell array
    {[      25]}
    {[      35]}
    {[      40]}
    {[      35]}
    {0×0 double}
D =
   NaN
   NaN
   NaN
   NaN
   NaN
E =
    25
    35
    40
    35
Error using str2num (line 31) Requires character vector or array input.
>> whos C D E F Name Size Bytes Class Attributes
C         5x1               488  cell                
D         5x1                40  double              
E         4x1                32  double

Best Answer

You need to fill empty cells with something if you don't want the removed.
C={25;35;40;35;[]}
C_empty=cellfun('isempty',C);%much faster than cellfun(@isempty,C)
C_copy=C;
C_copy(C_empty)={NaN};%fill empty cells with a double
E=cell2mat(C_copy);
You can also use isnan on the result to process it.
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