Concatenate arrays
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Syntax
C = cat(dim,A,B)
C = cat(dim,A1,A2,…,An)
Description
example
C = cat(dim,A,B) concatenates B to the end of A along dimension dim when A and B have compatible sizes (the lengths of the dimensions match except for the operating dimension dim).
example
C = cat(dim,A1,A2,…,An) concatenates A1, A2, … , An along dimension dim.
You can use the square bracket operator [] to concatenate or append arrays. For example, [A,B] and [A B] concatenates arrays A and B horizontally, and [A; B] concatenates them vertically.
Examples
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Two Matrices
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Concatenate two matrices vertically, then horizontally.
Create two matrices, and vertically append the second matrix to the first.
A = ones(3)
A = 3×3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1B = zeros(3)
B = 3×3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0C1 = cat(1,A,B)
C1 = 6×3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Now, horizontally append the second matrix to the first.
C2 = 3×6 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 03-D Arrays
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Create two 3-D arrays and concatenate them along the third dimension. The lengths of the first and second dimensions in the resulting array match the corresponding lengths in the input arrays, while the third dimension expands.
A = rand(2,3,4);B = rand(2,3,5);C = cat(3,A,B);szC = size(C)
szC = 1×3 2 3 9Expand Tables
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Create a table and add a row using a cell array.
LastName = {'Sanchez';'Johnson';'Li';'Diaz'};Age = [38;43;38;40];T1 = table(LastName,Age)T1=4×2 table LastName Age ___________ ___ {'Sanchez'} 38 {'Johnson'} 43 {'Li' } 38 {'Diaz' } 40 Trow = {'Brown',49};T2 = cat(1,T1,Trow)T2=5×2 table LastName Age ___________ ___ {'Sanchez'} 38 {'Johnson'} 43 {'Li' } 38 {'Diaz' } 40 {'Brown' } 49 Dates with Different Types
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Concatenate a date character vector, a string date, and a datetime into a single column of dates. The result is a datetime vector.
chardate = '2016-03-24';strdate = "2016-04-19";t = datetime('2016-05-10','InputFormat','yyyy-MM-dd');C = cat(1,chardate,strdate,t)
C = 3x1 datetime 24-Mar-2016 19-Apr-2016 10-May-2016Matrices in a Cell Array
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Create a cell array containing two matrices, and concatenate the matrices both vertically and horizontally.
M1 = [1 2; 3 4];M2 = [5 6; 7 8];A1 = {M1,M2};Cvert = cat(1,A1{:})Cvert = 4×2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Chorz = cat(2,A1{:})Chorz = 2×4 1 2 5 6 3 4 7 8Input Arguments
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dim — Dimension to operate along
positive integer scalar
Dimension to operate along, specified as a positive integer scalar. For example, if A and B are both 2-by-2 matrices, then cat(1,A,B) concatenates vertically creating a 4-by-2 matrix. cat(2,A,B) concatenates horizontally creating a 2-by-4 matrix.
dim must be either 1 or 2 for table or timetable input.
A — First input
scalar | vector | matrix | multidimensional array | table | timetable
First input, specified as a scalar, vector, matrix, multidimensional array, table, or timetable.
B — Second input
scalar | vector | matrix | multidimensional array | table | timetable
Second input, specified as a scalar, vector, matrix, multidimensional array, table, or timetable.
The elements of
Bare concatenated to the end of the first input along the operating dimension. The sizes of the input arguments must be compatible. For example, if the first input is a matrix of size 3-by-2, thenBmust have 2 columns to concatenate vertically, and 3 rows to concatenate horizontally.When concatenating horizontally, all table inputs must have unique variable names. When present, row names must be identical, except for order. Similarly, all timetable inputs must have the same row times and all columns must have different names.
You can concatenate valid combinations of different types. For more information, see Valid Combinations of Unlike Classes.
A1,A2,…,An — List of inputs
comma-separated list
List of inputs, specified as a comma-separated list of arrays to concatenate in the order they are specified.
The inputs must have compatible sizes. For example, if
A1is a row vector of length m, then the remaining inputs must each have m columns to concatenate vertically.When concatenating horizontally, all table inputs must have unique variable names. When present, row names must be identical, except for order. Similarly, all timetable inputs must have the same row times and all columns must have different names.
You can concatenate valid combinations of different types. For more information, see Valid Combinations of Unlike Classes.
Tips
To construct text by horizontally concatenating strings, character vectors, or cell arrays of character vectors, use the strcat function.
To construct a single piece of delimited text from a cell array of character vectors or a string array, use the strjoin function.
Algorithms
When concatenating an empty array to a nonempty array, cat omits the empty array in the output. For example, cat(2,[1 2],[]) returns the row vector [1 2].
If all input arguments are empty and have compatible sizes, then cat returns an empty array whose size is equal to the output size as when the inputs are nonempty. For example, cat(2,zeros(0,1),zeros(0,2)) returns a 0-by-3 empty array.
Extended Capabilities
Tall Arrays
Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.
Usage notes and limitations:
Vertical concatenation of character arrays is not supported.
Concatenation of ordinal categorical arrays is not supported.
Concatenation in any dimension other than 1 requires all input arguments to be tall arrays.
For more information, see Tall Arrays.
C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.
Usage notes and limitations:
If supplied,
dimmust be a constant.See Variable-Sizing Restrictions for Code Generation of Toolbox Functions (MATLAB Coder).
Thread-Based Environment
Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.
This function fully supports thread-based environments. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions in Thread-Based Environment.
GPU Arrays
Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
The cat function fully supports GPU arrays. To run the function on a GPU, specify the input data as a gpuArray (Parallel Computing Toolbox). For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).
Distributed Arrays
Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
This function fully supports distributed arrays. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).
Version History
Introduced before R2006a
See Also
vertcat | horzcat | strcat | strjoin
Topics
- Creating, Concatenating, and Expanding Matrices
- Valid Combinations of Unlike Classes
- Combine Categorical Arrays
- Concatenating Objects of Different Classes
- Concatenation Methods
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