error using contains function

when I use contains function in a loop it show me that error message, even though Raw is a cell array, and also the compilation complete and the code after if contains(Raw(i,2),serie)==1 works well.

is there a solution for that ?

[Matt J]

I suggest you provide code and input data that let's us reproduce the problem.

[AMINE EL MOUATAMID]

RMS=cellstr(RMS);
BaseDir = 'C:\Temp';  % Set as you need
[FileName, FilePath] = uigetfile('*.xlsx', ...
                  'Please choose an Excel file', BaseDir);

File = fullfile(FilePath, FileName);
prompt='Quelle fenêtre ?';
numbofsheet=input(prompt);
[Num, Txt, Raw] = xlsread(File,numbofsheet);
sizeRaw=size(Raw);
for i=2 : sizeRaw(1,1)
    if contains(Raw(i,2),serie)==1
       for j=2 : rowRMS(1,1)
           if contains(Raw(i,1),RMS(j,1))==1
               if contains(Raw(i+1,8),MeasTypeID)==1
                   Raw(i+1,9)=RMS(j,2);
               else
                   if contains(Raw(i+2,8),MeasTypeID)==1
                     Raw(i+2,9)=RMS(j,2);
                   else
                       if contains(Raw(i+3,8),MeasTypeID)==1
                         Raw(i+3,9)=RMS(j,2);
                       end
                   end
               end
           end
       end
    end
end
xlswrite(File,Raw,numbofsheet);

[AMINE EL MOUATAMID]

[Matt J]

You need to provide the variables (in a .mat file) that would let us run the important section of the code as follows:

load yourMATFile.mat

sizeRaw=size(Raw);
for i=2 : sizeRaw(1,1)
    if contains(Raw(i,2),serie)==1
       for j=2 : rowRMS(1,1)
           if contains(Raw(i,1),RMS(j,1))==1
               if contains(Raw(i+1,8),MeasTypeID)==1
                   Raw(i+1,9)=RMS(j,2);
               else
                   if contains(Raw(i+2,8),MeasTypeID)==1
                     Raw(i+2,9)=RMS(j,2);
                   else
                       if contains(Raw(i+3,8),MeasTypeID)==1
                         Raw(i+3,9)=RMS(j,2);
                       end
                   end
               end
           end
       end
    end
end

[AMINE EL MOUATAMID]

these are the files

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

I can see in your screen shot of workspace variables that your "Raw" array contains mostly NaN values.

According to your error message, the first argument of contains() must be a string array, char vector, or cell array of char vectors. "Raw" appears to be a cell array with lots of NaNs.

You probably want to just skip iterations where the input to contains() includes NaN values (or you might want to use a different method).

[AMINE EL MOUATAMID]

maybe I understand now

contains works for Raw(2,2); but doesn't work when it find NaN

[Adam Danz]

Yep! One way to avoid iterations with NaNs is something like this:

 if all(~isnan(Raw(i,1))) & contains(Raw(i,1),RMS(j,1))==1

[AMINE EL MOUATAMID]

[Adam Danz]

You need to do some exploring. Some trial and error. The error message tells you that the input to isnan() does not accept cell arrays. So try this

isnan(out{2,2})
% or
isnan([out{2,2}])

More more information on how to work with cell arrays:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/access-data-in-a-cell-array.html

[AMINE EL MOUATAMID]

thank you