How to write cell array to csv file

I'm running into difficulties writing my cell array into a csv file. Below is a short description of what I have done to obtain the cell array. Using text scan on 5 csv files with same format but different data I obtained a <1x26 cell> with columns containing both cells and doubles. Now after doing some work with the files I'm left with a cell array in the same format:

Columns 1 through 4

    {9268x1 cell}    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]

Columns 5 through 8

    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]

Columns 9 through 12

    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]

Columns 13 through 16

    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]

Columns 17 through 20

    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    {9268x1 cell}    {9268x1 cell}

Columns 21 through 24

    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]    [9268x1 double]

Columns 25 through 26

    [9268x1 double]    {9268x1 cell}

Now my question is: How can i write this back into a csv file? I've tried with fprintf, cell2csv (online) and numerously other online scripts but I haven't found anything to help me do this. Thanks in advance for your help and time.

Regards,

Lennaert

[Walter Roberson]

We need more information on what is inside the {92681x1 cell}.

[Lennaert]

Hey Walter, Thank you for your reply. The 92681x1 cell contains string data in the form of dd/mm/yyyy HH:mm:ss, the other 92681x1 cells contain strings such as 'warm', 'cold' or other words similar to those. The [9268x1 double} contain numbers such as 78.2 or 2000 etc.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

[Pedro Villena]

data = {{'asd';'qew';'zxc'} [1;2] [4;5;6] [7;8;9] [10;11;12;13]};
fid = fopen('csvfilename.csv','w');
for iii=1:length(data)-1,
    maxNRows = max([length(data{iii}) length(data{iii+1})]);
end
for ii=1:maxNRows,  %%1 -> 47165 rows
    for i=1:length(data), %%1 -> 26 columns
        try 
            if iscell(data{i}),
                fprintf(fid,'%s,',cell2mat(data{i}(ii)));
            else
                fprintf(fid,'%f,',data{i}(ii));
            end
        catch ME
            fprintf(fid,',');
        end
    end
    fprintf(fid,'\n');
end
fclose(fid);

[Lennaert]

Dear Pedro Villena, Thank you so much for your response. Your function seems to work for one of arrays. However with the following cell: Columns 1 through 4

    {47165x1 cell}    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]

Columns 5 through 8

    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]

Columns 9 through 12

    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]

Columns 13 through 16

    [47165x1 double]    [47165x1 double]    [47164x1 double]    [47164x1 double]

Columns 17 through 20

    [47164x1 double]    [47164x1 double]    {47164x1 cell}    {47164x1 cell}

Columns 21 through 24

    [47164x1 double]    [47164x1 double]    [47164x1 double]    [47164x1 double]

Columns 25 through 26

    [47164x1 double]    {47164x1 cell}

I get an error: Index exceeds matrix dimensions. This is probably do to the fact that colmns 1 - 14 are of dimensions [47165x1] and the rest have [47164x1]. Is there a way to overcome this error without making the cells containing one row too little longer?

Kind regards, Lennaert de Boer

Answer 2

[Peter Perkins]

Lennaert, if you have access to the Statistics Toolbox, you may find using dataset arrays is one way to go. Hard to say without knowing what's actually in your CSV files, but if it's a mixture of strings and numbers, you should be able to read the files into dataset arrays using the dataset constructor, combine them (not sure what you need to do there), and then use the export method to write back out to a CSV file.

[Lennaert]

Hey Peter,

I tried this before, but the problem I was running into was that in some of my csv files the last line was incomplete or in the form of: %s,,%n,%n,,%s. The dataset import function was unable to read the last line and thus couldn't return this. Using textscan i didnt have this issue.