How to convert distinct strings in a cell array to numbers.

I am trying to design a function that will that will rename each element in a cell array a unique number. For example, I am starting with this array of strings:

'Loc'  'Buf'
'Cac'  'Loc'
'Cac'  'Buf'
'Buf'  'D'
And want to rename each a number, so it becomes:
1  2
3  1
3  2
2  4

I.e., I need a function that will make 'Loc'=1, 'Buf'=2, etc.

Answer 1

[Titus Edelhofer]

Hi,

something like this:

x = {'Loc'  'Buf'
'Cac'  'Loc'
'Cac'  'Buf'
'Buf'  'D'}
[C,~,ib] = unique(x);
% the unique strings:
C
% and the corresponding id's:
ib = reshape(ib, size(x))

Titus

Answer 2

[wgourlay]

You can also ensure the numbering is in order of occurrence (this was necessary in my case):

[C,~,ib] = unique(x, 'stable');