Delete rows from a cell given a specific condition - Matlab

I have a cell type big-variable sorted out by FIRM (A(:,2)) and I want to erase all the rows in which the same firm doesn’t appear at least 5 times in a row. In this example, A:

                FIRM 
  1997  'ABDR'  0,56  464  1641  19970224
  1997  'ABDR'  0,65  229  9208  19970424
  1997  'ABDR'  0,55  125  31867  19970218
  1997  'ABDR'  0,53  31  33103  19970206
  1997  'ABDR'  0,70  464  46008  19971023
  1997  'ABD'  0,06  435  8077  19970311
  1997  'ABD'  0,00  1503  44994  19970804
  1997  'ABFI'  2,07  1549  46532  19971209

I would like to get, A:

1997  'ABDR'  0,56  464  1641  19970224
1997  'ABDR'  0,65  229  9208  19970424
1997  'ABDR'  0,55  125  31867  19970218
1997  'ABDR'  0,53  31  33103  19970206
1997  'ABDR'  0,70  464  46008  19971023

Can someone help me please? Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

[dpb]

Working just with the alpha column,

>> c={'ABDR';'ABDR';'ABDR';'ABDR';'ABDR';'ABD';'ABD';'ABFI'};
>> [u,~,i2]=unique(c);
>> [n,bin]=histc(i2,1:length(u));
>> c(bin==find(n>=5))
ans = 
  'ABDR'
  'ABDR'
  'ABDR'
  'ABDR'
  'ABDR'
>>

[Maria]

@dpb But I want to eliminate the whole row!

[Maria]

Yes, it is not working!

[dpb]

Yes, the logic array is the rows to save...I figured you'd recognize what to do with that--

 A=A(bin==find(n>=5),:);

Maybe it's a little easier to see if save the index vector independently--

ix=(bin==find(n>=5));   % create an index vector of rows to save
A=A(ix,:);              % keep those rows, all columns

NB: that saving desired rows is the same net result as deleting rows not wanted.

[dpb]

Yes, it is not working!

Well, need to see what isn't working and what the problem(s) are...can't see your terminal from here, unfortunately.

[Maria]

I am sorry. I didn't mean to say 'it's not working!' the way it sounded. I am working on the code, I will let you know if I have any problem, or doubt and in case I do, I will clearly present my doubts. Thank you :)