Cell Arrays in MATLAB

🧩 Cell Arrays in MATLAB

They are extremely useful when your data is non-uniform.
MATLAB is developed by MathWorks.

🔹 What Is a Cell Array?

A cell array is an array of cells, where each cell can contain any type and size of data.

📌 Unlike numeric arrays, elements in a cell array don’t have to be the same type or size.

1️⃣ Creating Cell Arrays

🔸 Using Curly Braces { }

Output

🔸 Cell Array with Rows & Columns

Output

🔸 Using cell() Function

📌 Creates an empty 2×3 cell array.

2️⃣ Accessing Cell Array Elements

🔹 Using { } (Content Indexing)

Returns the actual data inside the cell.

Output

🔹 Using ( ) (Cell Indexing)

Returns the cell itself.

Output

📌 Important Difference (Interview Favorite!)

3️⃣ Modifying Cell Array Elements

📌 Cell arrays can grow dynamically.

4️⃣ Cell Arrays with Strings & Numbers

5️⃣ Converting Between Cell & Other Types

🔸 Cell to Matrix (If Compatible)

Output

🔸 Matrix to Cell

6️⃣ Applying Functions to Cell Arrays — cellfun()

Output

📌 Applies a function to each cell’s content.

7️⃣ Nested Cell Arrays

Output

⚠️ Important Notes

• Use {} to access data, () to access cells

• Cell arrays are flexible but slightly slower than numeric arrays

• Ideal for mixed or irregular data

🎯 Interview Questions: Cell Arrays in MATLAB

🔹 Q1. What is a cell array?

Answer:
An array that can store different data types in each element.

🔹 Q2. Difference between {} and ()?

Answer:
{} → content, () → cell itself.

🔹 Q3. How do you create an empty cell array?

Answer:
Using cell(m,n).

🔹 Q4. Which function converts a cell array to a matrix?

Answer:
cell2mat().

🔹 Q5. How do you apply a function to each cell?

Answer:
Using cellfun().

🔹 Q6. Can a cell contain another cell?

Answer:
Yes (nested cell arrays).

✅ Summary

• Cell arrays store mixed data types

• Created using {} or cell()

• {} vs () is a key concept

• Essential for flexible data handling