Char to cell array of strings

how do I convert a 1x n char to be split (by the first letter through the last number before the next letter) into cells of an array and become strings

ex

1xn char: BL35.3563.253663.255.25622BL52.53532.1515.45354.2BL343545.454.3.215.1

to become 1x3 cell aray

BL35.3563.253663.255.25622

BL52.53532.1515.45354.2

BL343545.454.3.215.1

(each to be a string in the cell array)

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

output = regexp(c,'BL[\d.]*','match');

where c is your input character array.

That will actually give a cell array of character arrays. If you want to convert that to a cell array of strings, then

output2 = string(output);

[Mike Rovan]

Works perfectly. Thanks. Can you explain what 'BL[\d*,.]*' does though so I can replicate it in the future. Thanks

[the cyclist]

Sure. You might want to take a look at the documentation for regexp. For all but the simplest cases, I usually have to remind myself of how to identify different patterns. In fact, I found a simpler way to do it for your case, so I edited my answer, and explain the reasoning below. (The prior code would also have spuriously found patterns with commas, because got part of the syntax wrong!)

First step was to conceptually identify the pattern you were going for. I determined that it was "The character BL, followed by any combination of numerals and periods". (At first I thought we might need to use the exact count of periods, but you'll see we don't,)

I'll work "inside out". First,

\d

identifies a single numeric character -- the digits 0-9. Then,

[\d.]

identifies a numeric character or a period. Then,

[\d.]*

identifies any number of numeric characters and periods in a sequence. Finally,

BL[\d.]*

identifies the full pattern: 'BL' followed by any number numeric characters and periods.

I hope that helps! It gets tricky!