String Support API

A common way to add string support to a function that already accepts character arrays as inputs is to convert input string arrays to character vectors or cell arrays of character vectors. The convertStringsToChars and convertContainedStringsToChars functions convert string arrays to character vectors or cell arrays of character vectors, while leaving other input arguments unaltered.

The convertStringsToChars function was released in R2017a, and convertContainedStringsToChars was released in R2018b. This implementation of convertStringsToChars and convertContainedStringsToChars facilitates writing functions that work across all versions of MATLAB. This includes versions that predate the release of the string data type in R2016b.

Example Usage:

a = convertStringsToChars("Luggage combination")

a =
'Luggage combination'

a = convertContainedStringsToChars({'matryoshka'; ...
4; "Russian nesting doll"; ...
["little", "matron"]})

a =

4x1 cell array

{'matryoshka' }
{[ 4]}
{'Russian nesting doll'}
{1x2 cell }

For more information about updating your code to accept strings, see https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/update-your-code-to-accept-strings.html