MATLAB: Place blank entries by zeros

Question

I have a cell type variable with 5000 rows and 8 cells. For example:

a={182  1999  63,8  229  []  30  []  1
185  1999  44,5  123  19,7  51  []  []
194  1999  50,7  273  []  44  []  1
195  1999  53,2  []  []  []  []  []}

And I would like to substitute the blank entries in the last column only by zero so I would get:

 a={182  1999  63,8  229  []  30  []  1
  185  1999  44,5  123  19,7  51  []  0
  194  1999  50,7  273  []  44  []  1
  195  1999  53,2  []  []  []  []  0}

I tried something like this, but is not working:

a(cellfun(@isempty,a(:,8))) = {0};

Can someone help me? Thank you

Answer 1

a( cellfun(@isempty,a(:,8)),8 ) = {0}