Date numbers in double to datestring matrix

I have a 31x3 double with the first column being date serial numbers from low to high, and the next 2 columns being X an Y. I would simply like to create a matrix that is more user friendly, so that someone can click on it and see actual date strings corresponding with the X and Y values. Is there any effective way of doing this? I have been battling with datestr, as it doesn't like putting things back into a double. Thoughts?

Answer 1

[njj1]

You cannot put date strings and numerical data into a single matrix. You could use a cell if you wanted. For example:

X_new{1,1} = datestr(X_old(:,1)); %first cell array is the date strings
X_new{1,2} = X_old(:,2:end); %second cell is the X,Y data matrix

[Peter Perkins]

You will be much happier with a table or (in R2016b or later) a timetable than with a cell array. You'll also be happier if you use datetimes rather than datenums and datestrs.

Answer 2

[Steven Lord]

If you're using release R2016b or later, consider representing your times as a datetime vector and storing your data in a timetable with that datetime vector as its time vector.