Use isnan with input excel data containing a combination of strings and empty cells in a row

When I read raw data from an excel file named INFILE.xls, I usually want to remove the free spaces between columns afterward and have a string array composed only of the existng text.

[num, str, raw]=xlsread(INFILE)
samplerow=raw(1,:)

The result is:

{'first string'} {'second string'} {[NaN]}    {[NaN]}    {[NaN]}    {[NaN]} {'third string'} ...

I would like to then have a string array like this:

strArray={'first string'} {'second string'} {'third string'} ...

If I try to find and remove the NaN elements using isnan I receive the error message

All contents of the input cell array must be of the same data type.

How can I work aorund this?

Answer 1

[Alex Mcaulley]

If you just want the text:

[num, str, raw] = xlsread(INFILE)
samplerow = str(1,:);
samplerow(cellfun(@isempty,samplerow)) = [];