#### 6.1.2 Structure Arrays

A structure array is a particular instance of a structure, where each of the fields of the structure is represented by a cell array. Each of these cell arrays has the same dimensions. Conceptually, a structure array can also be seen as an array of structures with identical fields. An example of the creation of a structure array is

         x(1).a = "string1";
         x(2).a = "string2";
         x(1).b = 1;
         x(2).b = 2;

which creates a 2-by-1 structure array with two fields. Another way to create a structure array is with the `struct` function (see Creating Structures). As previously, to print the value of the structure array, you can type its name:

         x
              ⇒ x =
                 {
                   1x2 struct array containing the fields:

                     a
                     b
                 }

Individual elements of the structure array can be returned by indexing the variable like x`(1)`, which returns a structure with two fields:

         x(1)
              ⇒ ans =
                 {
                   a = string1
                   b =  1
                 }

Furthermore, the structure array can return a comma separated list of field values (see Comma Separated Lists), if indexed by one of its own field names. For example:

         x.a
              ⇒
                 ans = string1
                 ans = string2

Here is another example, using this comma separated list on the left-hand side of an assignment:

         [x.a] = deal("new string1", "new string2");
          x(1).a
              ⇒ ans = new string1
          x(2).a
              ⇒ ans = new string2

Just as for numerical arrays, it is possible to use vectors as indices (see Index Expressions):

         x(3:4) = x(1:2);
         [x([1,3]).a] = deal("other string1", "other string2");
         x.a
              ⇒
                 ans = other string1
                 ans = new string2
                 ans = other string2
                 ans = new string2

The function `size` will return the size of the structure. For the example above

         size(x)
              ⇒ ans =

                   1   4

Elements can be deleted from a structure array in a similar manner to a numerical array, by assigning the elements to an empty matrix. For example

         in = struct ("call1", {x, Inf, "last"},
                      "call2", {x, Inf, "first"})
              ⇒ in =
                 {
                   1x3 struct array containing the fields:

                     call1
                     call2
                 }

         in(1) = [];
         in.call1
              ⇒
                ans = Inf
                ans = last