Table array with named variables that can contain different types
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Description
table
arrays store column-oriented or tabular data, such as columns from a text file or spreadsheet. Tables store each piece of column-oriented data in a variable. Table variables can have different data types and sizes as long as all variables have the same number of rows. Table variables have names, just as the fields of a structure have names. Use the summary
function to get information about a table.
To index into a table, use one of these syntaxes. For more information, see Access Data in Tables.
Dot notation, as in
T.
, extracts one variable.varname
Curly braces, as in
T{
, extracts an array from specified rows and variables.rows
,vars
}Parentheses, as in
T(
, returns a table.rows
,vars
)
You can perform mathematical operations, such as +
, .*
, and mean
, directly on tables. For more information, see Direct Calculations on Tables and Timetables. (since R2023a)
If your data includes timestamps, consider using a timetable instead.
Creation
You can read data from a file into a table using either the Import Tool or the readtable function. Alternatively, use the table
function described below to create a table from input data arrays.
You also can create a table that allows space for variables whose values are filled in later. To create a table with preallocated space for variables, use the table
function with 'Size'
as the first input argument, as described below.
Syntax
T = table(var1,...,varN)
T = table('Size',sz,'VariableTypes',varTypes)
T = table(___,Name,Value)
T = table
Description
example
T = table(var1,...,varN)
creates a table from the input variables var1,...,varN
. The variables can have different sizes and data types, but all variables must have the same number of rows.
If the inputs are workspace variables, then table
assigns their names as the variable names in the output table. Otherwise, table
assigns variable names of the form 'Var1',...,'Var
, where N
'
is the number of variables.N
example
T = table('Size',sz,'VariableTypes',varTypes)
creates a table and preallocates space for the variables that have data types you specify. sz
is a two-element numeric array, where sz(1)
specifies the number of rows and sz(2)
specifies the number of variables. varTypes
specifies the data types of the variables.
example
T = table(___,Name,Value)
specifies additional input arguments using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, you can specify variable names using the 'VariableNames'
name-value pair. You can use this syntax with any of the input arguments of the previous syntaxes.
example
T = table
creates an empty 0-by-0 table.
Input Arguments
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var1,...,varN
— Input variables
arrays
Input variables, specified as arrays with the same number of rows. The input variables can have different sizes and different data types.
Common input variables are numeric arrays, logical arrays, character arrays, structure arrays, or cell arrays. Input variables also can be objects that are arrays. Such an array must support indexing of the form var(index1,...,indexN)
, where index1
is a numeric or logical vector that corresponds to rows of the variable var
. In addition, the array must implement both a vertcat
method and a size
method with a dim
argument.
Example: table([1:4]',ones(4,3,2),eye(4,2))
creates a table from variables with four rows, but different sizes.
Example: table([1:3]',{'one';'two';'three'},categorical({'A';'B';'C'}))
creates a table from variables with three rows, but different data types.
sz
— Size of preallocated table
two-element numeric vector
Size of the preallocated table, specified as a two-element numeric vector. The first element of sz
specifies the number of rows, and the second element specifies the number of table variables.
To create variables only, without any rows, specify 0
as the first element of sz
.
Example: T = table('Size',[50 3],'VariableTypes',{'string','double','datetime'})
preallocates 50 rows for a table that contains a string array, a double array, and a datetime array.
Example: T = table('Size',[0 4],'VariableTypes',varTypes)
specifies zero rows and four variables.
varTypes
— Data types of preallocated variables
cell array of character vectors | string array
Data types of the preallocated variables, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array. The number of types specified by varTypes
must equal the number of variables specified by the second element of sz
.
varTypes
can contain the names of any data types, including the names shown in the table.
Data Type Name | Initial Value in Each Element |
---|---|
| Double- or single-precision |
| Double- or single-precision |
| Signed 8-, 16-, 32-, or 64-bit integer |
| Unsigned 8-, 16-, 32-, or 64-bit integer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Scalar structure with no fields |
| Table with no variables |
| Timetable with no variables and |
For any other data type, the initial value is the value used by that type or class to "in-fill" unassigned elements of an array.
If you specify 'char'
as a data type, then table
preallocates the corresponding variable as a cell array of character vectors, not as a character array. Best practice is to avoid creating table or timetable variables that are character arrays. When working with text data in a table or a timetable, consider using a string array or a categorical array.
Name-Value Arguments
Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN
, where Name
is the argument name and Value
is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.
Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name
in quotes.
Example: T = table(Age,Height,Weight,'RowNames',LastName)
creates a table with row names that are specified by the variable LastName
.
VariableNames
— Variable names
cell array of character vectors | string array
Variable names, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array whose elements are nonempty and distinct.
The number of names in the array must equal the number of table variables.
The
table
function also stores the variable names in the VariableNames property of the table.Variable names can have any Unicode® characters, including spaces and non-ASCII characters.
Example: T = table(lat,lon,'VariableNames',["Latitude","Longitude"])
creates a table from input arrays lat
and lon
, and names the corresponding table variables Latitude
and Longitude
.
RowNames
— Row names
cell array of character vectors | string array
Row names, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array whose elements are nonempty and distinct.
The number of names in the array must equal the number of rows.
The
table
function also stores the row names in the RowNames property of the table.Row names can have any Unicode characters, including spaces and non-ASCII characters.
The
table
function removes any leading or trailing whitespace characters from the row names.
Example: T = table(Age,Height,Weight,'RowNames',LastName)
creates a table with row names that are specified by the variable LastName
.
DimensionNames
— Dimension names
two-element cell array of character vectors | two-element string array
Since R2021a
Dimension names, specified as a two-element cell array of character vectors or two-element string array whose elements are nonempty and distinct.
The
table
function also stores the dimension names in the DimensionNames property of the table.Dimension names can have any Unicode characters, including spaces and non-ASCII characters.
Before R2021a, you can specify dimension names only by setting the DimensionNames
property.
Example: T = table(Age,Height,Weight,'RowNames',LastName,'DimensionNames',["PatientName","PatientData"])
creates a table where the name of the first dimension is "PatientName"
and the name of the second dimension is "PatientData"
.
Properties
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Access Table Metadata Properties
A table contains metadata properties that describe the table and its variables. Access these properties using the syntax
, where tableName
.Properties.PropertyName
is the name of a property. For example, you can access the names of the variables in table PropertyName
T
using the syntax T.Properties.VariableNames
.
You can return a summary of all the metadata properties using the syntax
.tableName
.Properties
Tables provide metadata access through the Properties
property because you can access table data directly using dot syntax. For example, if table T
has a variable named Var1
, then you can access the values in the variable by using the syntax T.Var1
.
Table Metadata
DimensionNames
— Dimension names
{'Row','Variables'}
(default) | two-element cell array of character vectors | two-element string array
Dimension names, specified as a two-element cell array of character vectors or a two-element string array.
Dimension names can have any Unicode characters, including spaces and non-ASCII characters.
If you specify this property using a string array, then it is converted and stored as a cell array of character vectors.
You can access table data using the two dimension names.
If the table has row names, and you use dot syntax and the first dimension name, then you can access the row names as a vector.
If you use dot syntax and the second dimension name, then the data from all the variables are concatenated together in one array, as though you had indexed into the table using
{:,:}
syntax.
Example
Create a table and display its dimension names. You can access row names and data using dimension names with dot syntax.
load patientsT = table(Age,Height,Weight,Systolic,Diastolic, ... 'RowNames',LastName);T.Properties.DimensionNames
ans = 1x2 cell {'Row'} {'Variables'}
Access the row names using the first dimension name. Display the first five names.
T.Row(1:5)
ans = 5x1 cell {'Smith' } {'Johnson' } {'Williams'} {'Jones' } {'Brown' }
Access the data using the second dimension name. This syntax is equivalent to T{:,:}
.
T.Variables
ans = 100×5 38 71 176 124 93 43 69 163 109 77 38 64 131 125 83 40 67 133 117 75 49 64 119 122 80 46 68 142 121 70 33 64 142 130 88 40 68 180 115 82 28 68 183 115 78 31 66 132 118 86 ⋮
Modify the names of its dimensions using the Properties.DimensionNames
property. Having changed the dimension names, you can access the row names and data using the syntaxes T.Patient
and T.Data
respectively.
T.Properties.DimensionNames = ["Patient","Data"];T.Properties
ans = TableProperties with properties: Description: '' UserData: [] DimensionNames: {'Patient' 'Data'} VariableNames: {'Age' 'Height' 'Weight' 'Systolic' 'Diastolic'} VariableDescriptions: {} VariableUnits: {} VariableContinuity: [] RowNames: {100x1 cell} CustomProperties: No custom properties are set. Use addprop and rmprop to modify CustomProperties.
RowNames
— Row names
{}
(default) | cell array of character vectors | string array
Row names, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array whose elements are nonempty and distinct. If RowNames
is not empty, then the number of row names must equal the number of rows in the table.
Row names can have any Unicode characters, including spaces and non-ASCII characters.
If you assign row names with leading or trailing whitespace characters, then MATLAB® removes them from the row names.
The row names are visible when you view the table. Furthermore, you can use the row names within parentheses or curly braces to access the table data.
Another way to access the row names is to use dot syntax and the name of the first dimension of the table.
If you specify this property using a string array, then it is converted and stored as a cell array of character vectors.
Example
Create a table. Then add row names and access rows by their names.
load patientsT = table(Age,Height,Weight,Smoker,Systolic,Diastolic,SelfAssessedHealthStatus);T.SelfAssessedHealthStatus = string(SelfAssessedHealthStatus);
Add row names using the Properties.RowNames
property. By default, tables do not have row names, but you can add them at any time.
T.Properties.RowNames = string(LastName);head(T,5)
Age Height Weight Smoker Systolic Diastolic SelfAssessedHealthStatus ___ ______ ______ ______ ________ _________ ________________________ Smith 38 71 176 true 124 93 "Excellent" Johnson 43 69 163 false 109 77 "Fair" Williams 38 64 131 false 125 83 "Good" Jones 40 67 133 false 117 75 "Fair" Brown 49 64 119 false 122 80 "Good"
Another way to access the row names is by using dot syntax with the name of the first dimension of the table. Display the first five row names.
T.Properties.DimensionNames
ans = 1x2 cell {'Row'} {'Variables'}
T.Row(1:5)
ans = 5x1 cell {'Smith' } {'Johnson' } {'Williams'} {'Jones' } {'Brown' }
Index into the table by row names.
T(["Smith","Brown"],:)
ans=2×7 table Age Height Weight Smoker Systolic Diastolic SelfAssessedHealthStatus ___ ______ ______ ______ ________ _________ ________________________ Smith 38 71 176 true 124 93 "Excellent" Brown 49 64 119 false 122 80 "Good"
Description
— Table description
''
(default) | character vector | string scalar
Table description, specified as a character vector or string scalar. This description is visible when using the summary
function.
If you specify this property using a string scalar, then it is converted and stored as a character vector.
Example
Create a table. Modify the description of the table. Display a summary of the result.
load patientsT = table(LastName,Age,Height,Weight);T.LastName = string(T.LastName);T.Properties.Description = "Simulated patient data";summary(T)
Description: Simulated patient dataVariables: LastName: 100x1 string Age: 100x1 double Values: Min 25 Median 39 Max 50 Height: 100x1 double Values: Min 60 Median 67 Max 72 Weight: 100x1 double Values: Min 111 Median 142.5 Max 202
UserData
— Additional table information
[]
(default) | array
Additional table information, specified as an array. You can attach data of any kind to a table using this property.
Example
Create a table. Attach an anonymous function as a piece of user data that is associated with the table.
load patientsT = table(LastName,Age,Height,Weight,Smoker,Systolic,Diastolic);formula = @(x) x.^2;T.Properties.UserData = formula;T.Properties
ans = TableProperties with properties: Description: '' UserData: @(x)x.^2 DimensionNames: {'Row' 'Variables'} VariableNames: {'LastName' 'Age' 'Height' 'Weight' 'Smoker' 'Systolic' 'Diastolic'} VariableDescriptions: {} VariableUnits: {} VariableContinuity: [] RowNames: {} CustomProperties: No custom properties are set. Use addprop and rmprop to modify CustomProperties.
Variable Metadata
VariableNames
— Variable names
cell array of character vectors | string array
Variable names, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array whose elements are nonempty and distinct. The number of names must equal the number of variables.
Variable names can have any Unicode characters, including spaces and non-ASCII characters.
The variable names are visible when viewing the table and when using the
summary
function. Furthermore, you can use the variable names within parentheses, within curly braces, or with dot indexing to access table data.If you specify this property using a string array, then it is converted and stored as a cell array of character vectors.
Example
Create a table with default variable names. Then modify the names using the Properties.VariableNames
property.
T = table(["Smith";"Nguyen";"Williams";"Fernandez";"Brown"],[38;43;38;40;49], ... [71;69;64;67;64],[176;163;131;133;119])
T=5×4 table Var1 Var2 Var3 Var4 ___________ ____ ____ ____ "Smith" 38 71 176 "Nguyen" 43 69 163 "Williams" 38 64 131 "Fernandez" 40 67 133 "Brown" 49 64 119
T.Properties.VariableNames = ["LastName","Age","Height","Weight"]
T=5×4 table LastName Age Height Weight ___________ ___ ______ ______ "Smith" 38 71 176 "Nguyen" 43 69 163 "Williams" 38 64 131 "Fernandez" 40 67 133 "Brown" 49 64 119
A fundamental way to display and modify variables is to access them by name using dot syntax.
T.Age
ans = 5×1 38 43 38 40 49
T.Age(1) = 53
T=5×4 table LastName Age Height Weight ___________ ___ ______ ______ "Smith" 53 71 176 "Nguyen" 43 69 163 "Williams" 38 64 131 "Fernandez" 40 67 133 "Brown" 49 64 119
VariableDescriptions
— Variable descriptions
{}
(default) | cell array of character vectors | string array
Variable descriptions, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array This property can be an empty cell array, which is the default. If the array is not empty, then it must contain as many elements as there are variables. You can specify an individual empty character vector or empty string for a variable that does not have a description.
The variable descriptions are visible when using the
summary
function.If you specify this property using a string array, then it is converted and stored as a cell array of character vectors.
Example
Create a table. Modify the variable descriptions. Display a summary of the result.
load patientsT = table(LastName,Age,Height,Weight,Smoker,Systolic,Diastolic);T.LastName = string(T.LastName);T.Properties.VariableDescriptions = ["","","","", ... "Has the patient ever been a smoker", ... "Systolic Pressure","Diastolic Pressure"];summary(T)
Variables: LastName: 100x1 string Age: 100x1 double Values: Min 25 Median 39 Max 50 Height: 100x1 double Values: Min 60 Median 67 Max 72 Weight: 100x1 double Values: Min 111 Median 142.5 Max 202 Smoker: 100x1 logical Properties: Description: Has the patient ever been a smoker Values: True 34 False 66 Systolic: 100x1 double Properties: Description: Systolic Pressure Values: Min 109 Median 122 Max 138 Diastolic: 100x1 double Properties: Description: Diastolic Pressure Values: Min 68 Median 81.5 Max 99
VariableUnits
— Variable units
{}
(default) | cell array of character vectors | string array
Variable units, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array. This property can be an empty cell array, which is the default. If the array is not empty, then it must contain as many elements as there are variables. You can specify an individual empty character vector or empty string for a variable that does not have units.
The variable units are visible when using the
summary
function.If you specify this property using a string array, then it is converted and stored as a cell array of character vectors.
Example
Create a table. Modify the variable units. Display a summary of the result.
load patientsT = table(LastName,Age,Height,Weight,Smoker,Systolic,Diastolic);T.LastName = string(T.LastName);T.Properties.VariableUnits = ["","Yrs","In","Lbs","","mm Hg","mm Hg"];summary(T)
Variables: LastName: 100x1 string Age: 100x1 double Properties: Units: Yrs Values: Min 25 Median 39 Max 50 Height: 100x1 double Properties: Units: In Values: Min 60 Median 67 Max 72 Weight: 100x1 double Properties: Units: Lbs Values: Min 111 Median 142.5 Max 202 Smoker: 100x1 logical Values: True 34 False 66 Systolic: 100x1 double Properties: Units: mm Hg Values: Min 109 Median 122 Max 138 Diastolic: 100x1 double Properties: Units: mm Hg Values: Min 68 Median 81.5 Max 99
VariableContinuity
— Status as continuous or discrete variables
[]
(default) | cell array of character vectors | string array
Status as continuous or discrete variables, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array.
While tables and timetables both have this property, only timetables use it. For more information, see the VariableContinuity
property of timetable.
Custom Metadata
CustomProperties
— Customized metadata of table and its variables
CustomProperties
object
Customized metadata of a table and its variables, specified as a CustomProperties
object.
The CustomProperties
object is a container for customized metadata that you can add to a table. By default, CustomProperties
has zero properties. Each property you add to CustomProperties
can contain either table metadata or variable metadata. If a property contains variable metadata, then its value must be an array, and the number of elements in the array must equal the number of table variables.
To add properties for customized metadata to a table, use the addprop function.
To access or modify customized metadata, use the syntax
. In this syntax,tableName
.Properties.CustomProperties.PropertyName
is the name you chose when you added that property usingPropertyName
addprop
.To remove properties, use the rmprop function.
Note: You can add or remove only properties for customized metadata using addprop
and rmprop
. You cannot add or remove properties of the
object.tableName
.Properties
Example
Create a table.
load patientsT = table(LastName,Age,Height,Weight,Smoker,Systolic,Diastolic);
Add properties that can hold customized metadata about the table and its variables. In this example, the metadata are names of instruments, true
and false
values indicating whether variables are to be plotted, and the name of an output file. To add properties, use the addprop
function.
T = addprop(T,["Instrument","ToPlot","OutputFile"],["variable","variable","table"]);T.Properties
ans = TableProperties with properties: Description: '' UserData: [] DimensionNames: {'Row' 'Variables'} VariableNames: {'LastName' 'Age' 'Height' 'Weight' 'Smoker' 'Systolic' 'Diastolic'} VariableDescriptions: {} VariableUnits: {} VariableContinuity: [] RowNames: {} Custom Properties (access using t.Properties.CustomProperties.<name>): OutputFile: [] Instrument: [] ToPlot: []
Assign values to the customized metadata using dot syntax. When you assign an array of text values to customized metadata, the best practice is to use a string array, not a cell array of character vectors. If a property of CustomProperties
is a cell array of character vectors, then there is no mechanism to prevent you from later assigning nontext values as elements of the cell array.
T.Properties.CustomProperties.Instrument = ["","","height rod","scale","","blood pressure cuff","blood pressure cuff"];T.Properties.CustomProperties.ToPlot = [false false true true false true true];T.Properties.CustomProperties.OutputFile = 'patientData.csv';T.Properties
ans = TableProperties with properties: Description: '' UserData: [] DimensionNames: {'Row' 'Variables'} VariableNames: {'LastName' 'Age' 'Height' 'Weight' 'Smoker' 'Systolic' 'Diastolic'} VariableDescriptions: {} VariableUnits: {} VariableContinuity: [] RowNames: {} Custom Properties (access using t.Properties.CustomProperties.<name>): OutputFile: 'patientData.csv' Instrument: ["" "" "height rod" "scale" "" "blood pressure cuff" "blood pressure cuff"] ToPlot: [0 0 1 1 0 1 1]
Remove the OutputFile
property from T
.
T = rmprop(T,"OutputFile");T.Properties
ans = TableProperties with properties: Description: '' UserData: [] DimensionNames: {'Row' 'Variables'} VariableNames: {'LastName' 'Age' 'Height' 'Weight' 'Smoker' 'Systolic' 'Diastolic'} VariableDescriptions: {} VariableUnits: {} VariableContinuity: [] RowNames: {} Custom Properties (access using t.Properties.CustomProperties.<name>): Instrument: ["" "" "height rod" "scale" "" "blood pressure cuff" "blood pressure cuff"] ToPlot: [0 0 1 1 0 1 1]
Examples
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Store Related Data Variables in Table
Open Live Script
Store data about a group of patients in a table. You can perform calculations and store results in the same table. Also, you can annotate the table to describe your work and the variables of the table.
First, create workspace variables that have the patient data. The variables can have any data types but must have the same number of rows.
LastName = {'Sanchez';'Johnson';'Li';'Diaz';'Brown'};Age = [38;43;38;40;49];Smoker = logical([1;0;1;0;1]);Height = [71;69;64;67;64];Weight = [176;163;131;133;119];BloodPressure = [124 93; 109 77; 125 83; 117 75; 122 80];
Create a table, T
, as a container for the workspace variables. The table
function uses the workspace variable names as the names of the table variables in T
. A table variable can have multiple columns. For example, the BloodPressure
variable in T is a 5-by-2 array.
T = table(LastName,Age,Smoker,Height,Weight,BloodPressure)
T=5×6 table LastName Age Smoker Height Weight BloodPressure ___________ ___ ______ ______ ______ _____________ {'Sanchez'} 38 true 71 176 124 93 {'Johnson'} 43 false 69 163 109 77 {'Li' } 38 true 64 131 125 83 {'Diaz' } 40 false 67 133 117 75 {'Brown' } 49 true 64 119 122 80
You can use dot indexing to access table variables. For example, calculate the mean height of the patients using the values in T.Height
.
meanHeight = mean(T.Height)
meanHeight = 67
Calculate body mass index (BMI), and add it as a new table variable. You also can add and name table variables in one step, using dot syntax.
T.BMI = (T.Weight*0.453592)./(T.Height*0.0254).^2
T=5×7 table LastName Age Smoker Height Weight BloodPressure BMI ___________ ___ ______ ______ ______ _____________ ______ {'Sanchez'} 38 true 71 176 124 93 24.547 {'Johnson'} 43 false 69 163 109 77 24.071 {'Li' } 38 true 64 131 125 83 22.486 {'Diaz' } 40 false 67 133 117 75 20.831 {'Brown' } 49 true 64 119 122 80 20.426
Annotate the table with a description of the BMI calculation. You can annotate T
and its variables using metadata accessed through T.Properties
.
T.Properties.Description = 'Patient data, including body mass index (BMI) calculated using Height and Weight';T.Properties
ans = TableProperties with properties: Description: 'Patient data, including body mass index (BMI) calculated using Height and Weight' UserData: [] DimensionNames: {'Row' 'Variables'} VariableNames: {'LastName' 'Age' 'Smoker' 'Height' 'Weight' 'BloodPressure' 'BMI'} VariableDescriptions: {} VariableUnits: {} VariableContinuity: [] RowNames: {} CustomProperties: No custom properties are set. Use addprop and rmprop to modify CustomProperties.
Access All Table Data as Matrix
Open Live Script
Access all the data from a table as a matrix, using the name of the second dimension of the table.
Create a table that has five rows of data about a set of patients.
Age = [38;43;38;40;49];Smoker = logical([1;0;1;0;1]);Height = [71;69;64;67;64];Weight = [176;163;131;133;119];BloodPressure = [124 93; 109 77; 125 83; 117 75; 122 80];T = table(Age,Smoker,Height,Weight,BloodPressure)
T=5×5 table Age Smoker Height Weight BloodPressure ___ ______ ______ ______ _____________ 38 true 71 176 124 93 43 false 69 163 109 77 38 true 64 131 125 83 40 false 67 133 117 75 49 true 64 119 122 80
Display the names of the table dimensions using the DimensionNames
property. The default name of the second dimension is Variables
.
T.Properties.DimensionNames
ans = 1x2 cell {'Row'} {'Variables'}
Access the table data as a matrix using the syntax T.Variables
. This syntax is equivalent to accessing all the contents using curly brace syntax, T{:,:}
. If the table data cannot be concatenated into a matrix, then an error message is raised.
T.Variables
ans = 5×6 38 1 71 176 124 93 43 0 69 163 109 77 38 1 64 131 125 83 40 0 67 133 117 75 49 1 64 119 122 80
Rename the second dimension. If you change the name, then you can use the new name to access the data.
T.Properties.DimensionNames{2} = 'PatientData';T.PatientData
ans = 5×6 38 1 71 176 124 93 43 0 69 163 109 77 38 1 64 131 125 83 40 0 67 133 117 75 49 1 64 119 122 80
Specify Size and Variable Types
Open Live Script
Preallocate a table by specifying its size and the data types of the variables. The table
function fills the variables with default values that are appropriate for the data types you specify. It also gives the variables default names, but you also can assign variable names of your own. Preallocation provides room for data you add to the table later.
sz = [4 3];varTypes = {'double','datetime','string'};T = table('Size',sz,'VariableTypes',varTypes)
T=4×3 table Var1 Var2 Var3 ____ ____ _________ 0 NaT <missing> 0 NaT <missing> 0 NaT <missing> 0 NaT <missing>
To specify names for the variables, use the 'VariableNames'
name-value pair argument.
varNames = {'Temperature','Time','Station'};T2 = table('Size',sz,'VariableTypes',varTypes,'VariableNames',varNames)
T2=4×3 table Temperature Time Station ___________ ____ _________ 0 NaT <missing> 0 NaT <missing> 0 NaT <missing> 0 NaT <missing>
Add rows of data to the first two rows of T2
. Preallocation can be a useful technique when your code adds one row of data, or a few rows of data, at a time. Instead of growing the table every time you add a row, you can fill in table variables that already have room for your data.
T2(1,:) = {75,datetime('now'),"S1"};T2(2,:) = {68,datetime('now')+1,"S2"}
T2=4×3 table Temperature Time Station ___________ ____________________ _________ 75 12-Feb-2024 22:34:34 "S1" 68 13-Feb-2024 22:34:34 "S2" 0 NaT <missing> 0 NaT <missing>
You can encapsulate a row of data values in a cell array. When you assign a row from a cell array, elements from the cell array are assigned to the row in the table.
Specify Variable Names
Open Live Script
Create a table from arrays. To specify table variable names, use the 'VariableNames'
name-value pair argument. For example, you can use 'VariableNames'
to specify names when the other input arguments are not workspace variables.
T = table(categorical({'M';'F';'M'}),[45;32;34],... {'NY';'CA';'MA'},logical([1;0;0]),... 'VariableNames',{'Gender','Age','State','Vote'})
T=3×4 table Gender Age State Vote ______ ___ ______ _____ M 45 {'NY'} true F 32 {'CA'} false M 34 {'MA'} false
Create a table with the state names as row names. You can specify both the 'VariableNames'
and 'RowNames'
name-value pairs when using the table
function.
T = table(categorical({'M';'F';'M'}),[45;32;34],logical([1;0;0]),... 'VariableNames',{'Gender','Age','Vote'},... 'RowNames',{'NY';'CA';'MA'})
T=3×3 table Gender Age Vote ______ ___ _____ NY M 45 true CA F 32 false MA M 34 false
Specify Row Names
Open Live Script
Specify row names for a table. Tables do not have to have row names, but if you specify them, then you can index into a table by row name. You also can access the set of row names using the name of the first dimension of a table.
Create arrays containing patient data.
LastName = {'Sanchez';'Johnson';'Lee';'Diaz';'Brown'};Age = [38;43;38;40;49];Height = [71;69;64;67;64];Weight = [176;163;131;133;119];
Create a table containing the arrays. Specify LastName
as the source of row names for the table. The table has only three variables. The row names are not a table variable, but instead a property of the table.
T = table(Age,Weight,Height,'RowNames',LastName)
T=5×3 table Age Weight Height ___ ______ ______ Sanchez 38 176 71 Johnson 43 163 69 Lee 38 131 64 Diaz 40 133 67 Brown 49 119 64
Since the rows have row names, you can index into the rows of T
by name.
T('Lee',:)
ans=1×3 table Age Weight Height ___ ______ ______ Lee 38 131 64
To specify multiple rows, use a cell array.
T({'Lee','Brown'},:)
ans=2×3 table Age Weight Height ___ ______ ______ Lee 38 131 64 Brown 49 119 64
To access all the row names of T
as a cell array, use the syntax T.Row
. By default, Row
is the name of the first dimension of a table.
T.Row
ans = 5x1 cell {'Sanchez'} {'Johnson'} {'Lee' } {'Diaz' } {'Brown' }
Change the name of the first dimension. If you change the name, then you can access the row names using the new name.
T.Properties.DimensionNames{1} = 'LastNames';T.LastNames
ans = 5x1 cell {'Sanchez'} {'Johnson'} {'Lee' } {'Diaz' } {'Brown' }
Specify Table Variables and Row Names Using String Arrays
Open Live Script
Starting in R2017a, you can create strings using double quotes, and add string arrays as table variables.
FlightNum = [1261;547;3489];Customer = ["Jones";"Brown";"Smith"];Date = datetime(2016,12,20:22)';Rating = categorical(["Good";"Poor";"Fair"]);Comment = ["Flight left on time, not crowded";... "Late departure, ran out of dinner options";... "Late, but only by half an hour. Otherwise fine."];T = table(FlightNum,Customer,Date,Rating,Comment)
T=3×5 table FlightNum Customer Date Rating Comment _________ ________ ___________ ______ _________________________________________________ 1261 "Jones" 20-Dec-2016 Good "Flight left on time, not crowded" 547 "Brown" 21-Dec-2016 Poor "Late departure, ran out of dinner options" 3489 "Smith" 22-Dec-2016 Fair "Late, but only by half an hour. Otherwise fine."
To use the text in a string array as row names, convert the string array to a cell array of character vectors. Then create a table with row names.
Customer = cellstr(Customer);T = table(FlightNum,Date,Rating,Comment,'RowNames',Customer)
T=3×4 table FlightNum Date Rating Comment _________ ___________ ______ _________________________________________________ Jones 1261 20-Dec-2016 Good "Flight left on time, not crowded" Brown 547 21-Dec-2016 Poor "Late departure, ran out of dinner options" Smith 3489 22-Dec-2016 Fair "Late, but only by half an hour. Otherwise fine."
Build Table by Assigning Variables Individually
Open Live Script
Create workspace variables containing snowfall totals on different dates at three locations. These variables are row vectors.
Date = {'12/25/11','1/2/12','1/23/12','2/7/12','2/15/12'};location1 = [20 5 13 0 17];location2 = [18 9 21 5 12];location3 = [26 10 16 3 15];
One way to create a table from these variables is to call the table
function with the syntax T = table(Date',location1',location2',location3')
. Because the workspace variables are row vectors, you must transpose them to put them into the table as column-oriented data. Therefore, the input arguments are expressions, not simple variables. As a result, table
creates T
with the default variable names Var1
, Var2
, Var3
, and Var4
. You can assign more meaningful names to T.Properties.VariableNames
after you create T
. But, it might be more convenient to create an empty table, and then add variables one at a time with new names.
Create an empty table. Transpose the workspace variables and add them to the table as column vectors. As part of assigning each workspace variable into T
, provide a meaningful name for the table variable.
T = table;T.Date = Date';T.Natick = location1';T.Boston = location2';T.Worcester = location3'
T=5×4 table Date Natick Boston Worcester ____________ ______ ______ _________ {'12/25/11'} 20 18 26 {'1/2/12' } 5 9 10 {'1/23/12' } 13 21 16 {'2/7/12' } 0 5 3 {'2/15/12' } 17 12 15
Specify Variable Names Using Any Characters
Open Live Script
Starting in R2019b, you can specify table variable names that are not valid MATLAB® identifiers. Such variable names can include spaces, non-ASCII characters, and can have any character as the leading character. When you access such a variable name, enclose it quotation marks.
Create a table that stores data about a set of patients. Start with their ages and status as smokers.
Age = [38;43;38;40;49];Smoker = logical([1;0;1;0;1]);Height = [71;69;64;67;64];Weight = [176;163;131;133;119];BloodPressure = [124 93; 109 77; 125 83; 117 75; 122 80];T = table(Age,Smoker)
T=5×2 table Age Smoker ___ ______ 38 true 43 false 38 true 40 false 49 true
Add the blood pressure readings with the variable name '29-May-2019 Blood Pressure Reading'
. You can use dot syntax to add or access the variable. Since its name is not a valid MATLAB identifier, use parentheses and quotation marks with dot syntax.
T.('29-May-2019 Blood Pressure Reading') = BloodPressure
T=5×3 table Age Smoker 29-May-2019 Blood Pressure Reading ___ ______ __________________________________ 38 true 124 93 43 false 109 77 38 true 125 83 40 false 117 75 49 true 122 80
When table variable names are valid MATLAB identifiers, you can use dot syntax without parentheses and quotation marks.
T.Height = Height;T.Weight = Weight
T=5×5 table Age Smoker 29-May-2019 Blood Pressure Reading Height Weight ___ ______ __________________________________ ______ ______ 38 true 124 93 71 176 43 false 109 77 69 163 38 true 125 83 64 131 40 false 117 75 67 133 49 true 122 80 64 119
Index into T
using variable names.
T(:,{'Age','Smoker','29-May-2019 Blood Pressure Reading'})
ans=5×3 table Age Smoker 29-May-2019 Blood Pressure Reading ___ ______ __________________________________ 38 true 124 93 43 false 109 77 38 true 125 83 40 false 117 75 49 true 122 80
Limitations
Use single quotes for these input names:
'DimensionNames'
(since R2021a)'RowNames'
'Size'
'VariableTypes'
'VariableNames'
To avoid confusion with variable inputs, do not use double-quoted string scalars (such as
"RowNames"
) for these names.
Tips
For a list of functions that accept or return tables, see Tables.
Extended Capabilities
Tall Arrays
Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.
This function supports tall arrays with the limitation:
The syntax
TT = table(T1,T2,...)
constructs a tall table from several tall arrays(T1,T2,...)
. You can use the'VariableNames'
name-value pair argument to specify variable names.
For more information, see Tall Arrays for Out-of-Memory Data.
C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.
Usage notes and limitations:
Starting in R2019b, you can use tables in MATLAB code intended for code generation. For more information, see Code Generation for Tables (MATLAB Coder) and Table Limitations for Code Generation (MATLAB Coder).
Thread-Based Environment
Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool
or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool
.
Distributed Arrays
Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
Usage notes and limitations:
The input arrays must be distributed and have the same number of rows.
The result is distributed, using a 1D distribution scheme over the first dimension.
For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).
Version History
Introduced in R2013b
expand all
R2023a: Perform calculations directly on tables and timetables without extracting their data
You can now perform calculations directly on tables and timetables without extracting their data. All the variables in your tables and timetables must have data types that support calculations. You can also perform operations where one operand is a table or timetable and the other is a numeric or logical array. Previously, all calculations required you to extract data from your tables and timetables by indexing into them.
For more information, see Direct Calculations on Tables and Timetables and Rules for Table and Timetable Mathematics.
R2022a: Improved performance when subscripting with dot notation or multiple levels of indexing
Subscripting when using dot notation is significantly faster in R2022a than in R2021b. Also, subscripting with multiple levels of indexing is faster.
For example, when you use dot notation to refer to a table variable with 106 elements, performance in R2022a is more than 4x faster than in R2021b.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1), ones(1e6,1), nan(1e6,1)); indices = 1:10000; tic; % Refer to variable using dot notation for i = indices x = t.Var1; end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2021b: 0.15 s
R2022a: 0.035 s
Similarly, when you use dot notation to assign an array to a table variable with 106 elements, performance in R2022a is about 3.6x faster than in R2021b.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1), ones(1e6,1), nan(1e6,1)); indices = 1:10000; x = randi(1e6,1e6,1); tic; % Assign to variable using dot notation for i = indices t.Var1 = x; end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2021b: 0.23 s
R2022a: 0.063 s
Also, when you use dot notation and parentheses to assign individual values to elements of a table variable, performance in R2022a is more than 4x faster than in R2021b.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1), ones(1e6,1), nan(1e6,1)); indices = randi(1e6,1,10000); tic; % Assign to elements using dot notation and parentheses for i = indices t.Var1(i) = rand; end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2021b: 0.53 s
R2022a: 0.12 s
The code was timed on a Windows® 10, Intel® Xeon CPU W-2133 @ 3.60 GHz test system by calling each version of the timingTest
function.
R2021b: Improved performance when assigning elements by subscripting with curly braces
Subscripted assignment using curly braces is significantly faster in R2021b than in R2021a.
For example, when you assign into three table variables with 106 elements, performance in R2021b is approximately 4.4x faster, as shown below.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1), ones(1e6,1), nan(1e6,1)); indices = randi(1e6,1,10000); tic; % Assign row vector of random values to randomly chosen row for i = indices t{i,:} = rand(1,3); end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2021a: 7.4 s
R2021b: 1.7 s
The code was timed on a Windows 10 system with a 3.6 GHz Intel Xeon W-2133 CPU by calling the timingTest
function in R2021a and R2021b.
R2021a: Dimension names cannot match reserved names
MATLAB raises an error if you assign a dimension name that matches one of these reserved names: 'Properties'
, 'RowNames'
, 'VariableNames'
, or ':'
. In previous releases, MATLAB raised a warning and modified the dimension names so that they were different from the reserved names.
R2020a: Improved performance when assigning elements by subscripting into table variables
Subscripted assignment into table variables is significantly faster. Performance is essentially constant with the number of elements in each table variable.
For example, when you use dot indexing to assign elements to a variable with 106 elements, performance in R2020a is approximately 2x faster than in R2019b, as shown below.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1)); indices = randi(1e6,1,10000); tic; for i = indices t.Var1(i) = rand; end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2019b: 1.20 s
R2020a: 0.59 s
Similarly, assignment using curly braces is faster. When you assign into three table variables with 106 elements, performance in R2020a is approximately 1.2x faster than in R2019b, as shown below.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1), ones(1e6,1), nan(1e6,1)); indices = randi(1e6,1,10000); tic; for i = indices t{i,:} = rand; end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2019b: 8.04 s
R2020a: 6.68 s
The code was timed on a Windows 10, Intel Xeon® W-2133 @ 3.60 GHz test system by calling the function timingTest
.
The performance improvement occurs only when you make table subscripted assignments within a function. There is no improvement when subscripting into tables at the command line, or within try-catch
blocks.
R2019b: Variable names can contain leading and trailing whitespace characters
Table and timetable variable names with leading or trailing whitespace characters are not modified.
In previous releases, leading and trailing whitespace characters were deleted from variable names when you specified them using the 'VariableNames'
name-value pair argument, or assigned them to the VariableNames
property.
To manually remove such characters, first use the strtrim function on the names, then assign them as variable names to the table or timetable.
R2019b: Variable names and dimension names must be unique
MATLAB raises an error if you assign a table variable name that matches a dimension name, or a dimension name that matches a variable name. In previous releases, MATLAB raised a warning and modified the names so they were unique.
R2019b: Improved performance when assigning elements by subscripting into large table variables
Subscripted assignment into large table variables is significantly faster. Performance is now essentially constant with the number of elements in each table variable.
For example, when you use dot indexing to assign elements to a variable with 106 elements, performance in R2019b is approximately 40x times faster, as shown below.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1)); indices = randi(1e6,1,10000); tic; for i = indices t.Var1(i) = rand; end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2019a: 47.83 s
R2019b: 1.20 s
Similarly, assignment using curly braces is faster. For example, when you assign into three table variables with 106 elements, performance in R2019b is approximately 18x faster.
function timingTest() t = table(zeros(1e6,1), ones(1e6,1), nan(1e6,1)); indices = randi(1e6,1,10000); tic; for i = indices t{i,:} = rand; end tocend
The approximate execution times are:
R2019a: 156.39 s
R2019b: 8.51 s
The code was timed on a Windows 10 system with a 3.6 GHz Intel Xeon W-2133 CPU by calling each version of the timingTest
function.
The larger the table variables are, the greater the performance improvement becomes. However, the performance improvement occurs only when you make table subscripted assignments within a function. There is no improvement when subscripting into tables at the command line, or within try-catch blocks.
See Also
readtable | cell2table | array2table | struct2table | isvarname | summary | uitable | tall
Topics
- Create Tables and Assign Data to Them
- Rename and Describe Table Variables
- Access Data in Tables
- Calculations When Tables Have Both Numeric and Nonnumeric Data
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