mxArrayToString (MATLAB Application Program Interface)

Convert arrays to strings

#include "matrix.h"
char *mxArrayToString(const mxArray *array_ptr);

Arguments

array_ptr
Pointer to a string mxArray; that is, a pointer to an mxArray having the mxCHAR_CLASS class.

Returns

A C-style string. Returns NULL on out of memory.

Description

Call mxArrayToString to copy the character data of a string mxArray into a C-style string. The copied C-style string starts at buf and contains no more than buflen-1 characters. The C-style string is always terminated with a NULL character.

If the string array contains several rows, they are copied, one column at a time, into one long string array. This function is similar to mxGetString, except that:

it does not require the length of the string as an input
it supports multibyte character sets

mxArrayToString does not free the dynamic memory that the char pointer points to. Consequently, you should typically free the string (using mxFree) immediately after you have finished using it.

Example

Use mxArrayToString to convert the data from a string array into a C string named buf:

void
mexFunction(int nlhs,mxArray *plhs[],int nrhs,const mxArray 
*prhs[])
{
 char *buf;

 /* Copy the string data from prhs[0] and place it into buf. */ 
   buf= mxGetString(prhs[0]); 
   if (buf != NULL)
     mexPrintf("The converted string is \n%s.\n", buf);
   else
     mexErrMsgTxt("Could not convert string data.");

 /* Manipulate buf as you would manipulate any C string. */ 
   ...
 /* When finished, free buf memory. */
    mxFree(buf);
}

For an additional example, see mxarraytostring.c in the mx subdirectory of the examples directory.