How would one access an array within an array, and then delete a certain string from that array?

I am tasked with coding a game of MASH, so this means I must have an main array with the 4 category arrays inside:

ACat= [ a b c d]

BCat= [e f g h]

CCat= [i j k l]

AllCats= [ACat BCat CCat]

This creates a 1x12 array

I then generate a random number, and this will be used to delete the string in that index spot

I want to make sure only one of the strings from each "category" is left, but I cannot figure out how to do this

I have

while [numel(AllCats)>4]

if(numel(ACat)>1)

AllCats(:,RandomNumber)= [ ];

RandomNumber = numel(AllCats)-RandomNumber;

if (RandomNumber <1)

RandomNumber = 1;

And this repeats for all categories. I end up with a 1x4 string for AllCats, but it has mulltiple strings from one category. How would I fix this?

[dpb]

Don't create different variables with similar but sequenced names; either use multi-dimensional arrays, cell arrays or dynamically-named field names. Then you can address whichever piece needed programmatically independently of the other pieces.

Answer 1

[Abhishek Chakram]

Hi Ben Reed.

It is my understanding that you want to access and delete a random string from the allcategories array until one from each category is left. Here is a sample code for that:

ACat = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'};
BCat = {'e', 'f', 'g', 'h'};
CCat = {'i', 'j', 'k', 'l'};
AllCats = [ACat, BCat, CCat];

% Generate a random number
randomNumber = randi(numel(AllCats));

% Delete a string at the random index
AllCats(randomNumber) = [];

% Check if there are more than one string from any category
while numel(ACat) > 1 || numel(BCat) > 1 || numel(CCat) > 1
    % Generate a new random number
    randomNumber = randi(numel(AllCats));
    
    % Delete the category of the string at the random index
    if randomNumber <= numel(ACat) && numel(ACat)>1
        ACat(randomNumber) = [];
    elseif randomNumber <= numel(ACat) + numel(BCat) && randomNumber>numel(ACat)&& numel(BCat)>1
        BCat(randomNumber - numel(ACat)) = [];
    elseif randomNumber <= numel(ACat) + numel(BCat) + numel(CCat) &&randomNumber>(numel(ACat)+numel(BCat))&& numel(CCat)>1
        CCat(randomNumber - numel(ACat) - numel(BCat)) = [];
    end
    
    
    % Update the AllCats array
    AllCats = [ACat, BCat, CCat];
end
disp(AllCats);

In this example a random index is generated and stored in the variable called “randomNumber”. The corresponding string from the respective category based on the “randomNumber” is then deleted and “AllCats” array is updated.

I hope this answers your question.

Best Regards,

Abhishek Chakram