`vartype`

Selects table variables by data type, for use as a subscript.

Category: Language Fundamentals > Data Types

Syntax

S = vartype(type)

Creates a subscript that selects variables of the given type.

Description

vartype is a convenient way to apply an operation to one kind of column without naming them. For example T(:, vartype('numeric')) keeps only the numeric columns, and varfun(@mean, T, 'InputVariables', vartype('numeric')) averages only those.

Input arguments

type: 'numeric', 'categorical', 'datetime', 'duration', 'logical', 'cellstr', 'string', 'char', or a class name.

Output arguments

S: Subscript object, used as T(:, vartype('numeric')).

Example

Keep numeric columns

T = table([1;2], {'a';'b'}, 'VariableNames', {'n','s'});
T(:, vartype('numeric'))

Output

ans = 2×1 table

    n
    _

    1
    2

See also

varfun table splitvars convertvars isnumeric