How to output entire columns of a cell array?

I have this cell array and I want to output an entire column from the workspace.

The function goes like this,

 function    Time = Rin 
        fid = fopen( 'Rincon.txt' );
        Time = textscan( fid, '%d%d%d%d%d%f%f%f%f%f%s%s%s%f%f' ...
                    ,   'Delimiter'             ,   ' '     ...
                    ,   'CollectOutput'         ,   true    ...
                    ,   'HeaderLines'           ,   2       ...
                    ,   'MultipleDelimsAsOne'   ,   true    ...
                    ,   'Whitespace'            ,   ''      ...
                    );
        fclose( fid );
    end

When Run, the output is this,

 ans = 

    [2163x5 int32]    [2163x5 double]    {2163x3 cell}    [2163x2 double]

I want to illustrate on the Command Window the entire first column of the array, ans {1,2}

Can you please help?

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

Why ans{1,2}?, it's ans{2}

[Walter Roberson]

Azzi, cell references follow the same rules as normal array locations do -- that A{2} refers to the second element of A, which would correspond to A(2,1) if A is an array or a column vector and would correspond to A(1,2) if A is a row vector. A{2} is the linear indexing form, but the underlying indexing model is the A(1,2) or A(2,1) form. In other words, ans{1,2} is completely correct and is considered in a way more "right" than ans{2}

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

Walter, What do you mean by more right, and what will you win by adding two character (A(1,2) instead of A(2)), also why not A(1,2,1)?

[Jan]

@Azzi: If you have an indexing bug in a program and confuse column with row vectors, using the explicit C{1,2} indexing can help to locate the problem. But this costs some processing time and it is less "nice".

The linear indexing is efficient for matrices also:

M = rand(2,2)
disp(M(4))

But this must be applied carefully and the explicite indexing is in most cases easier to debug. So finally, A{2} or A{1,2} is equivalent and it is a question of taste and the choice might depend on the decision, if the run time or the debug time is more important.

Answer 1

[Matt J]

 ans{2}(:,1)

[Laura Proctor]

You can get the contents inside the cells out using curly braces. Once you do that, you index into the numeric array just like you would any variable.

Sometimes, it is easier for people to use intermediate variables to understand it better.

For example, here I am using an intermediate variable, x:

x = Time{2};
y = x(:,1);

Although doing this makes it easier for some to understand and is a good for learning, doing it all in one go, as Matt J has shown, is best practice.