String array of the letters of the alphabet

Is there a compact way to generate a string array with the letters of the English alphabet?

alphabet = ["a","b", .., "z"]

Answer 1

[Voss]

string(('a':'z').').'

ans = 1×26 string array
    "a"    "b"    "c"    "d"    "e"    "f"    "g"    "h"    "i"    "j"    "k"    "l"    "m"    "n"    "o"    "p"    "q"    "r"    "s"    "t"    "u"    "v"    "w"    "x"    "y"    "z"

[John D'Errico]

Cute.

[the cyclist]

Nice!

Answer 2

[John D'Errico]

alf = 'a':'z'

alf = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'

It also works for caps.

ALF = 'A':'Z'

ALF = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

[the cyclist]

Thanks, but two issues:

• I want a string array, not a character array
• I want 26 elements, each with one letter (not a single string with all letters)

[John D'Errico]

The obvious is:

alf = string('a':'z')

alf = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"

That makes a string array, but you wanted a set of scalar string arrays. So then I see that this will create the desired string array.

string({'a' 'b'})

ans = 1×2 string array
    "a"    "b"

And that means you can use mat2cell.

string(mat2cell('a':'z',1,ones(1,26)))

ans = 1×26 string array
    "a"    "b"    "c"    "d"    "e"    "f"    "g"    "h"    "i"    "j"    "k"    "l"    "m"    "n"    "o"    "p"    "q"    "r"    "s"    "t"    "u"    "v"    "w"    "x"    "y"    "z"

It feels a little kludgy. But it works. There may be a better way. If so, I'll probably think of it as soon as I click on submit.