Editing Data in a Cell Array

I have a list of names in a text document given in the format: 1 last,first 2 last,first 3 last,first ...etc What i've done so far is

data = fopen('names.txt');
array =  textscan(data, '%s','Delimiter','#');

from here, I have created a 1x1 cell that contains a 10x1 cell with the names split up:

1 last,first

2 last,first

3 last,first

What I would like to do is remove the numbers from this list, but since it is a cell array and not a normal array, I'm not sure how to go about this. I've tried using cell2mat and strrep but didn't have any luck. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks!

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

It would seem to make more sense to change your format to '%d%s%*[,]%s' or something similar -- that is, to break it up as you read it.

In any case, with a cell array of strings, you can

regexprep(array{1}, '^\d+\s+/', '', 'lineanchors')

[Jake Farley]

Thank you! Now would there be a way to put them in "first last" order instead of "last, first"? Or should that be done prior.

[Walter Roberson]

regexprep(array{1}, '^\d+\s+([^,]+),\s*(.*)', '[$2, $1]', 'lineanchors')