How to convert datetime into a number?

I have a table whose first column is a timestamp in the format 08-Jan-2016 05:40:00. How do I convert it into numbers?

Wanted output: 20160108054000.

I know the function yyyymmdd(X) is useful but I also need the time to be added.

Thanks!

[KSSV]

Read about datestr.

Answer 1

[KSSV]

dt = datestr(now,'yyyymmddHHMMSS')

dt = '20220403132156'

[Lu Da Silva]

How can I implement that onto my table though? Replacing 'now' with my vector gives an error ("Cannot convert input into specified datestr. DATENUM failed.")

[KSSV]

What is class of your dates in the table?

[Lu Da Silva]

what do you mean by class? Where do I check that?

The format is e.g. 08-Jan-2016 05:40:00.

[Siddharth Bhutiya]

Avoid using older legacy functions like datestr and datenum. Use the more modern types like datetime to work with timestamped data.

@Lu Da Silva Could you share a code example to demonstrate what you are seeing. This way people can run that on their MATLAB and suggest possible solutions instead of trying to guess what the problem could be.

[Boyd Tolton]

Although datetime does provide more precision than datenum (and requires more memory), this precision is not needed by most applications. Also, you will note that the dir command outputs the datenum for files.

Answer 2

[Stephen23]

txt = '08-Jan-2016 05:40:00'

txt = '08-Jan-2016 05:40:00'

dtn = datetime(txt,'InputFormat','d-MMM-y H:m:s', 'Format','yyyyMMddHHmmss')

dtn = datetime
   20160108054000

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/date-and-time-operations.html