How would i adapt this code to make it work for a whole phrase, not just one word?

function out = word2piglatin
word = input ( 'Enter a word:' , 's' );
% Check if the first letter of the word is vowel or not
if ismember(word(1), 'aeiouAEIOU' )
	out = [word 'way' ]; %Append 'way' to the word
else
	out= [word(2:end) word(1) 'ay' ]; %Place the starting letter at the end and append the 'ay'
end
end

[Rik]

One important cornerstone of programming is to never write code twice. If you find yourself repeating the same code many times that is a sign it should be a function, or at least there should be a loop.

How could you apply that maxim here?

[Charlotte Reed]

I believe there should be a loop when it comes to the 'if' line, as thats the one adressing the actual arrangement of the words.

[Rik]

That seems a reasonable place. How could you loop over the words? How can you split a sentence into words. It seems like other people must have wanted to do this before, so Google can probably help you find a solution. (hint: regexp is probably the most efficient way)

[Charlotte Reed]

function [new_string] = pig_latin( string )
word=input('Enter a phrase','s')
end
new_string = '';
ay = 'ay';
numWords = length(word);

for k = 1 : numWords
    thisWord = word{k};
    firstVowel = thisWord(find(ismember(thisWord,'aeiou'),1,'first'));
    vowelLocation = strfind(thisWord, firstVowel);
  if vowelLocation >= 2
    % Place the starting letter at the end and append the 'ay'
    newWord{k} = [thisWord(vowelLocation:end), thisWord(1:vowelLocation-1), ay, ' '];
  else
    % If word starts with a vowel, just add 'ay'.
    newWord{k} = [thisWord, ay, ' '];
  end
end
% celldisp(newWord);
% String cells together to form the output character array.
new_string = [newWord{:}];

[Charlotte Reed]

Not sure why this code isn't working?

[John D'Errico]

As I suggested, break the string up into distinct words, using a tool like strsplit or strtok. THEN apply that code to each word, one at a time, using a loop.

[Charlotte Reed]

I don't know how to do that

[Charlotte Reed]

Still confused on how to code pig latin for a phrase

[Rik]

In your code you didn't cut up the phrase into words.

[Walter Roberson]

Is "e-mail" one word or two?

How many words is "nonetheless"?

Answer 1

[John D'Errico]

Simplest would be to extract each word, one at a time. For example, consider this sentence (taken from your question):

phrase = 'Check if the first letter of the word is vowel or not';
w = strsplit(phrase)
w =
  1×12 cell array
  Columns 1 through 11
    {'Check'}    {'if'}    {'the'}    {'first'}    {'letter'}    {'of'}    {'the'}    {'word'}    {'is'}    {'vowel'}    {'or'}
  Column 12
    {'not'}

Now you can just loop over the words as found. Apply the piglatin rules to each word. Be careful if there is punctuation.

I could have dome it similarly by using the function strtok.