phrase2word.m

String separation - useful for ASCII data header lines

Description

%-------------------------------------------------------------
% out=phrase2word(phrase, <delimiter,token>) | Version 1.1
%-------------------------------------------------------------
% Cuts input phrase separated by delimiter into words.
% Consecutive delimiters are recognized and the "missing"
% words inbetween are marked by default with a whitespace.
% Useful to extract data labels from a csv-header line.
%-------------------------------------------------------------
% Example:
% words = phrase2word('time,data')
%
% results in {'time','data'}
% By default, ',' is chosen as delimiter, thus
%
% words = phrase2word('time,data',',')
%
% has the same result.
%
% words = phrase2word('time,,data',',','*')
%
% gives {'time' '*' 'data'} with "*" marking empty word.
%-------------------------------------------------------------
% Start: 2003-08-11, S. Billig | Last Change: 2004-11-30, SB
%-------------------------------------------------------------
% has the same result as above.

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 6.5 (R13)

[Thomas McNeill]

I found this program very useful but....

Problem exists if last character of input string is a delimiter.
Error Message:
   ??? Index exceeds matrix dimensions.
Error in ==> L:\IntShared\MatLabScripts\phrase2word.m
On line 58 ==> if isequal(rem(1),delim) & isequal(rem(1),rem(2))

% add lines below to fix error
[a,b] = size(inVar); % determine size of input string variable
if isequal(inVar(a,b),delim) % Check if last character is same as delim
    inVar(a,b+1)=' ' % if so then add space character to end
end