A table is a data structure that stores information in a table format with rows and columns, each of which can be mnemonically labeled. For example, the following uses the table function to store some simple information for a doctor’s patients.

>>names= {'Harry', 'Sally', 'Jose'};
>>weights= [185; 133; 210]; % Note column vectors
>>heights= [74; 65.4; 72.2];
>>patients= table (weights, heights, 'RowNames', names)
patients=
       weights heights
        ----   -----
Harry   185     74
Sally   133    65.4
Jose    210    72.2

 

This created a 3 x 2 table, with two variables named weights and heights.
There are many ways to index into tables, to either create a new table that is a subset of the original, or to extract information from the table into other types of data structures. Using parentheses to index, the result is another table; the indexing can be done using integers (as with arrays we have seen so far) or by using row or variable names.

>> patients(1:2, 1)
ans =
        weights
        _______
Harry     185 
Sally     133

 

>> patients ( {'Harry' 'Jose'}, : )
ans =
         weights heights
         _______ _______

Harry      185     74 
Jose       210    72.2

 

Using curly braces to index, the data can be extracted; in the following example, into a double matrix.

>> mat = patients{{'Harry' 'Jose'},:}
mat =
      185.0000     74.0000
      210.0000     72.2000

The summary function can be used for tables; it shows the variables and some statistical data for each.

 

>> summary (patients)

Variables:

         weights: 3x1 double
           Values:

               min        133 
               median     185 
               max        210

         heights: 3x1 double
            Values:

               min        65.4 
               median     72.2 
               max        74