How do I extract a vector from a single field in a structured variable?

I am trying to create a vector variable from a field of an 8x1 structure.

To create the structure I used the dir function - I am trying to create a vector of subfolders name and set the code up so that it can take out the names if different folders were in the original folder.

I type:

folders_temp = dir('data_CLEANED');

folder_names = folders_temp(~ismember({folders_temp.name},{'.','..'})); %just doing this to get rid of dot and dot dot

participant_ID = [folder_names.name]

The participant names all crammed together in a single cell

Is there a way to create a vector with each participant code having its own cell?

[James Tursa]

What is the class of the names? E.g., what does class(folder_names(1).name)) return? Can you give a small example of what the names are and what you would like for a result?

[Marissa Holden]

The names are 'MH', 'TM', JW' etc and they are in a field called 'name' in a structure called 'folder_names'.

I type

participant_ID = [folder_names.name]

and it returns

[MHTMJW] when I want it to return [MH, TM, JW]

[Voss]

Use {} rather than [], like in my answer.

[Stephen23]

"... when I want it to return [MH, TM, JW]"

In MATLAB square brackets are a concatenation operator, not a list operator like in some other languages.

What you need is a cell array, just as Benjamin shows: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/cell-arrays.html

You might find these informative too: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/comma-separated-lists.html

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/320713-how-to-operate-on-comma-separated-lists

Answer 1

[Voss]

Maybe this?

folder_names = struct('name',{'a','bb','ccc'})

folder_names = 1×3 struct array with fields:
    name

participant_ID = {folder_names.name}

participant_ID = 1×3 cell array
    {'a'}    {'bb'}    {'ccc'}