How to replace string by double in cell array

I am importing an Excel file in Matlab using the readtable command. For some reason, one collumn in the dataset does not load as doubles (all number columns are identically formatted in the Excel file as much as I can tell) but as string characters:

prompting the deficient column:

>>T{3,1}{:,14}
ans =1699×1 cell array

I need to replace the strings in T{3,1}{:,14} with doubles.

The following command returns an error:

>> T{3,1}{:,14}=str2double(T{3,1}{:,14})
Conversion to cell from double is not possible.

If is use:

T{3,1}{:,14}=num2cell(str2double(T{3,1}{:,14}))
the content of the column is no longer a double.

Do you have a solution to this (seemingly trivial) problem?

Thanks

[Walter Roberson]

Would it be possible for you to upload the file for testing?

[Gregory Wurtz]

Here is the file with some example columns. The deficient data is in column cc.

Answer 1

[Sulaymon Eshkabilov]

D1D=readtable('test.xlsx');
D1D.cc=str2double(D1D.cc);

[Sulaymon Eshkabilov]

if you need to remove NaN's, use:

Index=isnan(D1D.cc);
D1D.cc(Index)=0; 
% similarly for other columns ... 

[Gregory Wurtz]

Thank you. This works great!

Answer 2

[Sulaymon Eshkabilov]

use a command: double()

To get back your strings use the command: char()

[Gregory Wurtz]

I am not sure how this solves my problem: I would like to replace the string in the cell array with doubles. I included the data in the feed above.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 3

[Walter Roberson]

filename = 'test.xlsx';
opt = detectImportOptions(filename);
opt = setvaropts(opt, 3, 'Type', 'double');

T = readtable(filename, opt);

[Gregory Wurtz]

This works if T is a table, but in my case T is loaded in a cell array, in which case this code below won't work. Thanks

filename = 'test.xlsx';

opt = detectImportOptions(filename);

opt = setvaropts(opt, 3, 'Type', 'double');

T{1} = readtable(filename, opt);

[Walter Roberson]

your question specifically said that it was loaded into a table.

You can always use table2cell if you need a cell array.

[Walter Roberson]

the accepted answer is for a table() as well.

[Walter Roberson]

I tested on your sample file before posting. This code fixes the readtable so that it loads as numeric in the first place avoiding the cell

[Gregory Wurtz]

Thanks Walter.