Creating Arrays

MATLAB An Introduction With Applications, 6th Edition

Slide deck by
Dr. Amos Gilat
Dr. Greg Reese
The Ohio State University
Miami University
1
2.0

An array is MATLAB's basic data

structure
• Can have any number of dimensions.
Most common are
 vector - one dimension (a single row or
column)
 matrix - two or more dimensions
• Arrays can have numbers or letters

2
2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

To create a row vector from known

numbers, type variable name, then equal
sign, then inside square brackets, numbers
separated by spaces and/or commas
variable_name = [ n1, n2, n3 ]
Commas optional
>> yr = [1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996]
yr =
1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996

Note MATLAB displays row vector horizontally

3
2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

To create a column vector from

known numbers
• Method 1 - same as row vector but put
semicolon after all but last number
variable_name = [ n1; n2; n3 ]

>> yr = [1984; 1986; 1988 ]

yr =
1984 Note MATLAB displays column vector vertically
1986
1988
4
2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

• Method 2 - same as row vector but put

apostrophe (') after closing bracket
 Apostrophe interchanges rows and
columns. Will study later
variable_name = [ n1 n2 n3 ]'
>> yr = [1984 1986 1988 ]'
yr =
1984
1986
1988

5
2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

To create a vector with specified

constant spacing between elements
variable_name = m:q:n
• m is first number
• n is last number
• q is difference between consecutive
numbers
v = m:q:n
means
v = [ m m+q m+2q m+3q ... n ]
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2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

If omit q, spacing is one

v = m:n
means
v = [ m m+1 m+2 m+3 ... n ]

>> x = 1:2:13
x = 1 3 5 7 9 11 13
>> y = 1.5:0.1:2.1 Non-integer spacing
y = 1.5000 1.6000 1.7000
1.8000 1.9000 2.0000 2.1000
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2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

>> z = -3:7
z = -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
>> xa = 21:-3:6 Negative spacing
xa = 21 18 15 12 9 6

8
2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

To create a vector with specified

number of terms between first and last
v = linspace( xi, xf, n )
• xi is first number
• xf is last number
• n is number of terms (= 100 if omitted)

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2.1 CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (VECTOR)

>> va = linspace( 0, 8, 6 ) Six elements

va = 0 1.6000 3.2000 4.8000 6.4000 8.0000
>> va = linspace( 30, 10, 11 ) Decreasing elements
va=30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10

m:q:n lets you directly specify

spacing. linspace() lets you
TIP directly specify number of terms

10
2.2 CREATING A TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (MATRIX)

Create a two-dimensional matrix like this

m = [ row 1 numbers; row 2 numbers;
... ; last row numbers ]
 Each row separated by semicolon
 All rows have same number of columns
>> a=[ 5 35 43; 4 76 81; 21 32 40]
a =
5 35 43
4 76 81
21 32 40
11
2.2 CREATING A TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (MATRIX)

>> cd=6; e=3; h=4;

Commas optional

>> Mat=[e, cd*h, cos(pi/3);...

h^2 sqrt(h*h/cd) 14]

Mat =
3.0000 24.0000 0.5000
16.0000 1.6330 14.0000

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2.2 CREATING A TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (MATRIX)

Can also use m:p:n or linspace() to

make rows
• Make sure each row has same number of
columns
>> A=[1:2:11; 0:5:25;...
linspace(10,60,6); 67 2 43 68 4 13]
A =
1 3 5 7 9 11
0 5 10 15 20 25
10 20 30 40 50 60
67 2 43 68 4 13
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2.2 CREATING A TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY (MATRIX)

What if number of columns

different?
Four columns Five columns

>> B= [ 1:4; linspace(1,4,5) ]

??? Error using ==> vertcat
CAT arguments dimensions are
not consistent.

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2.2.1 The zeros, ones and, eye Commands

zeros(m,n) - makes matrix of m

rows and n columns, all with zeros
ones(m,n) - makes matrix of m
rows and n columns, all with ones
eye(n) - makes square matrix of n
rows and columns. Main diagonal
(upper left to lower right) has
ones, all other elements are zero

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2.2.1 The zeros, ones and, eye Commands

>> zr=zeros(3,4) >> idn=eye(5)

zr = 0 0 0 0 idn = 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0
>> ne=ones(4,3) 0 0 0 1 0
ne = 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 1 1

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2.2.1 The zeros, ones and, eye Commands

To make a matrix filled with a

particular number, multiply
TIP
ones(m,n) by that number
>> z=100*ones(3,4)
z =
100 100 100 100
100 100 100 100
100 100 100 100

17
2.3 NOTES ABOUT VARIABLES IN MATLAB

• All variables are arrays

 Scalar - array with only one element
 Vector - array with only one row or column
 Matrix - array with multiple rows and
columns
• Assigning to variable specifies its
dimension
 Don't have to define variable size before
assigning to it, as you do in many
programming languages
• Reassigning to variable changes its
dimension to that of assignment 18
2.4 THE TRANSPOSE OPERATOR

Transpose a variable by putting a

single quote after it, e.g., x'
 In math, transpose usually denoted by
superscript "T", e.g., xT
• Converts a row vector to a column vector
and vice-versa
• Switches rows and columns of a matrix,
i.e., first row of original becomes first
column of transposed, second row of
original becomes second column of
transposed, etc.
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2.4 THE TRANSPOSE OPERATOR

>> aa=[3 8 1]
aa = 3 8 1
>> bb=aa'
bb = 3
8
1

20
2.4 THE TRANSPOSE OPERATOR

>> C=[2 55 14 8; 21 5 32 11; 41 64 9 1]

C = 2 55 14 8
21 5 32 11
41 64 9 1
>> D=C'
D = 2 21 41
55 5 64
14 32 9
8 11 1

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2.5 ARRAY ADDRESSING

Can access (read from or write to)

elements in array (vector or matrix)
individually or in groups
• Useful for changing subset of elements
• Useful for making new variable from
subset of elements

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2.5.1 Vector

Address of element is its position in

the vector
• "address" often called index
• Addresses always start at 1 (not 0)
 Address 1 of row vector is leftmost element
 Address 1 of column vector is topmost element
• To access element of a vector represented by
a variable, follow variables name by address
inside parentheses, e.g., v(2)=20 sets
second element of vector v to 20
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2.5.1 Vector

>> VCT=[35 46 78 23 5 14 81 3 55]

VCT = 35 46 78 23 5 14 81 3 5
>> VCT(4)
ans = 23
>> VCT(6)=273
VCT = 35 46 78 23 5 273 81 3 5
>> VCT(2)+VCT(8)
ans = 49
>> VCT(5)^VCT(8)+sqrt(VCT(7))
ans = 134

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2.5.2 Matrix

Address of element in a matrix is given

by row number and column number.
Address often called index or subscript
• Addresses always start at 1 (not 0)
 Row 1 is top row
 Column 1 is left column
• If variable ma is a matrix, ma(k,p) is
element in row k and column p

In MATLAB, left index always refers to row,

right index to column
TIP
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2.5.2 Matrix

>> MAT=[3 11 6 5; 4 7 10 2; 13 9 0 8]
Column 1

MAT = 3 11 6 5
Element in 4 7 10 2
row 3 and
column 1 13 9 0 8 Row 3
>> MAT(3,1)
ans = 13
>> MAT(3,1)=20 Assign new value to element in row 3 and column 1
MAT = 3 11 6 5
Only this 4 7 10 2
element
changed
20 9 0 8

>> MAT(2,4)-MAT(1,2)
ans = -9
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2.6 USING A COLON : IN ADDRESSING ARRAYS

The colon : lets you address a range of elements

• Vector (row or column)
 va(:) - all elements
 va(m:n) - elements m through n
• Matrix
 A(:,n) - all rows of column n
 A(m,:) - all columns of row m
 A(:,m:n) - all rows of columns m through n
 A(m:n,:) - all columns of rows m through n
 A(m:n,p:q) - columns p through q of rows
m through n
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2.6 USING A COLON : IN ADDRESSING ARRAYS

>> A=[1:2:11; 2:2:12; 3:3:18; 4:4:24; 5:5:30]

A = 1 3 5 7 9 11
2 4 6 8 10 12
3 6 9 12 15 18
4 8 12 16 20 24
5 10 15 20 25 30
>> B=A(:,3) All rows of column 3
B = 5
6
9
12
15

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2.6 USING A COLON : IN ADDRESSING ARRAYS

>> C=A(2,:) All columns of row 2

C = 2 4 6 8 10 12
>> E=A(2:4,:) All columns of rows two through four
E = 2 4 6 8 10 12
3 6 9 12 15 18
4 8 12 16 20 24
Columns two through four of rows one
>> F=A(1:3,2:4) through three
F = 3 5 7
4 6 8
6 9 12

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2.6 USING A COLON : IN ADDRESSING ARRAYS

Can replace vector index or matrix

indices by vectors in order to pick out
specific elements. For example, for
vector v and matrix m
• v([a b c:d]) returns elements a, b,
and c through d
• m([a b],[c:d e]) returns columns c
through d and column e of rows a and b

30
2.6 USING A COLON : IN ADDRESSING ARRAYS

>> v=4:3:34
v = 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34

>> u=v([3, 5, 7:10])

u = 10 16 22 25 28 31

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2.6 USING A COLON : IN ADDRESSING ARRAYS

>> A=[10:-1:4; ones(1,7); 2:2:14; zeros(1,7)]

A = 10 9 8 7 6 5 4
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0 0 0 0 0 0 0

>> B=A([1 3],[1 3 5:7])

B = 10 8 6 5 4
2 6 10 12 14

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2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

Two ways to add elements to existing

variables
1. Assign values to indices that don't exist
 MATLAB expands array to include indices, puts
specified values in assigned elements, fills any
unassigned new elements with zeros
2. Add values to ends of variables
 Adding to ends of variables is called appending
or concatenating
 "end" of vector is right side of row vector or
bottom of column vector
 "end" of matrix is right column or bottom row
33
2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

Assigning to undefined indices of

vectors
>> DF=1:4
DF = 1 2 3 4
>> DF(5:10)=10:5:35
DF = 1 2 3 4 10 15 20 25 30 35
>> AD=[5 7 2]
AD = 5 7 2
>> AD(8)=4
AD = 5 7 2 0 0 0 0 4
>> AR(5)=24
Unassigned elements set to zero
AR = 0 0 0 0 24
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2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

Appending to vectors
• Can only append row vectors to row
vectors and column vectors to column
vectors
 If r1 and r2 are any row vectors,
r3 = [r1 r2] is a row vector whose left
part is r1 and right part is r2
 If c1 and c2 are any column vectors,
c3 = [c1; c2] is a column vector whose
top part is c1 and bottom part is c2

35
2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

>> RE=[3 8 1 24];

>> GT=4:3:16;
>> KNH=[RE GT]
KNH = 3 8 1 24 4 7 10 13 16
>> KNV=[RE'; GT']
KNV = 3
8
1
24
4
7
10
13
16
36
2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

Assigning to undefined indices of matrices

>> AW=[3 6 9; 8 5 11] AW doesn't have a fourth row or fifth column
AW = 3 6 9
8 5 11
>> AW(4,5)=17
AW = 3 6 9 0 0 Now it does!
8 5 11 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 17
>> BG(3,4)=15
BG = 0 0 0 0
Unassigned elements set to zero
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 15
37
2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

Appending to matrices
• If appending one matrix to right side of
other matrix, both must have same
number of rows
• If appending one matrix to bottom of
other matrix, both must have same
number of columns

38
2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

>> A2=[1 2 3; 4 5 6]
A2 = 1 2 3
4 5 6
>> B2=[7 8; 9 10]
B2 = 7 8
9 10
>> C2=eye(3)
C2 = 1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1

39
2.7 ADDING ELEMENTS TO EXISTING VARIABLES

>> Z=[A2 B2]

Z = 1 2 3 7 8
4 5 6 9 10
>> Z=[A2; C2]
Z = 1 2 3
4 5 6
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
>> Z=[A2; B2]
??? Error using ==> vertcat
CAT arguments dimensions are not
consistent.
40
2.8 DELETING ELEMENTS

To delete elements in a vector or

matrix, set range to be deleted to
empty brackets
>> kt=[2 8 40 65 3 55 23 15 75 80]
kt = 2 8 40 65 3 55 23 15 75 80
>> kt(6)=[] Delete sixth element (55)
kt = 2 8 40 65 3 23 15 75 80 55 gone
>> kt(3:6)=[] Delete elements 3 through 6 of current kt,
not original kt
kt = 2 8 15 75 80

41
2.8 DELETING ELEMENTS

To delete elements in a vector or matrix,

set range to be deleted to empty brackets
>> mtr=[5 78 4 24 9; 4 0 36 60 12; 56 13 5
89 3]
mtr = 5 78 4 24 9
4 0 36 60 12
56 13 5 89 3
>> mtr(:,2:4)=[]
mtr = 5 9
4 12
56 3

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2.9 BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS FOR HANDLING ARRAYS

MATLAB has many built-in functions for

working with arrays. Some common ones
are:
• length(v) - number of elements in a vector
• size(A) - number of rows and columns in a
matrix or vector
• reshape(A,m,n) - changes number of rows
and columns of a matrix or vector while keeping
total number of elements the same. For example,
changes 4x4 matrix to 2x8 matrix
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2.9 BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS FOR HANDLING ARRAYS

• diag(v) - makes a square matrix of zeroes

with vector in main diagonal
• diag(A) - creates vector equal to main
diagonal of matrix

For more functions, click on the Help

icon, then in the Help window click on
MATLAB, then on “MATLAB
functions”, then on “By Category", then
scroll down to the section labeled
"Matrices and Arrays"
44
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

A string is an array of characters

Strings have many uses in MATLAB
• Display text output
• Specify formatting for plots
• Input arguments for some functions
• Text input from user or data files

45
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

• Create a string by typing characters

within single quotes (')
 Many programming languages use the
quotation mark (") for strings. Not
MATLAB!
• When typing in string
 Color of text changes to maroon when
type first single quote
 Color of text changes to purple when
type last single quote
46
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

• Can have letters, digits, symbols, spaces

 To type single quote in string, use two
consecutive single quotes, e.g., make the
string of English "Greg's car" by typing
'Greg''s car'
 Examples: 'ad ef', '3%fr2',
'edcba:21!', 'MATLAB'

47
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

Can assign string to a variable, just

like numbers
>> name = 'Sting'
name =
Sting
>> police = 'New York''s
finest'
police =
New York's finest
48
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

In a string variable
• Numbers are stored as an array
• A one-line string is a row vector
 Number of elements in vector is number of
characters in string
>> name = 'Howard the Duck';
>> size( name )
ans =
1 15
49
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

Strings are indexed the same way as

vectors and matrices
• Can read by index
• Can write by index
• Can delete by index

50
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

Example
>> word = 'dale';
>> word(1)
ans = d
>> word(1) = 'v'
word = vale
>> word(end) = []
word = val
>> word(end+1:end+3) = 'ley'
word = valley

51
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

MATLAB stores strings with multiple

lines as an array. This means each
line must have the same number of
columns (characters)
>> names = [ 'Greg'; 'John' ]
names =
Greg
John
>> size( names )
ans =
2 4
52
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

Problem 4 characters 3 characters

>> names = [ 'Greg'; 'Jon' ]???

Error using ==> vertcat
CAT arguments dimensions are not
consistent.
Must put in extra characters (usually
spaces) by hand so that all rows have
same number of characters
>> names = [ 'Greg'; 'Jon ' ]
Greg
Extra space
Jon
53
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

Making sure each line of text has the

same number of characters is a big
pain. MATLAB solves problem with
char function, which pads each line
on the right with enough spaces so
that all lines have the same number
of characters
char('string 1', 'string 2', 'string 3')

54
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

EXAMPLE
>> question=char('Romeo,
Romeo,',...
'Wherefore art thou', 'Romeo?' )
question =
Romeo, Romeo,
Wherefore art thou
Romeo?
>> size( question )
ans =
3 18
55
2.10 STRINGS AND STRINGS AS VARIABLES

R o m e o , R o m e o ,
W h e r e f o r e a r t t h o u
R o m e o ?

Three lines of text stored in a 3x18 array

MATLAB makes all rows as long as
longest row
• First and third rows above have enough
space characters added on ends to make
each row 18 characters long
56