Note
The nominal and ordinal
array data types are not recommended. To represent ordered and unordered discrete, nonnumeric
data, use the Categorical Arrays data type instead.
This example shows how to determine sorting order for ordinal arrays.
Load sample data.
AllSizes = {'medium','large','small','small','medium',...
'large','medium','small'};The created variable, AllSizes, is a cell array of character vectors containing size measurements on eight objects.
Create an ordinal array.
Convert AllSizes to an ordinal array with levels small < medium < large.
AllSizes = ordinal(AllSizes,{},{'small','medium','large'});
getlevels(AllSizes)ans = 1x3 ordinal
small medium large
Sort the ordinal array.
When you sort ordinal arrays, the sorted observations are in the same order as the category levels.
sizeSort = sort(AllSizes); sizeSort(:)
ans = 8x1 ordinal
small
small
small
medium
medium
medium
large
large
The sorted ordinal array, sizeSort, contains the observations ordered from small to large.