concatenate tables based on table row names

How can I concatenate the following tables:

a = table([5; 76; 25; 321; 523; 21; 562; 74], 'RowNames', {'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h'});
b = table([487; 96; 325; 98; 741; 23], 'RowNames', {'a','b','d','e','g', 'h'});
c = table([25; 325; 32; 52; 21], 'RowNames', {'a','d','e','f','g'});
...
z = table([2; 35; 2; 52; 1; 63; 45], 'RowNames', {'a','c','d','e','f','g','h'});

To obtain

Table = 8 by z
    a   b   c   ... z
a   5   487 25  ... 2
b   76  96  0   ... 0
c   25  0   0   ... 35
d   321 325 325 ... 2
e   523 98  32  ... 52
f   21  0   52  ... 1
g   562 741 21  ... 63
h   74  23  0   ... 45

[Sai Gudlur]

Hello,

Same as putting together a table with vectors or matrices.

T = [a b c] % combine them along column dimension.

T1 = [a;b;c] % combine them along row dimension.

[Ronald]

This option is not applicable to unequal tables, unfortunately

Answer 1

[Sai Gudlur]

You could also try "vertcat" on tables.

[Ronald]

Does not apply in this case since this a horizontal concatenation problem. However, horzcat() too can't apply in this case since there are different number of elements in the tables.

[Ronald]

Thank you Sai, I solved it using outerjoin()!

[madhan ravi]

outerjoin(...) is the way to go. Ronald post it as an answer so others could benifit from it.

[Sai Gudlur]

Thank you Ronald, for outerjoin wasn't aware of this option.

[Ronald]

This is what saved my problem up there:

Using the first one (a) as the reference table

a = table({'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h'}, [5; 76; 25; 321; 523; 21; 562; 74], 'VariableNames', {'Key','Var1'});

This solution is based on data generated within a loop. In my case, the size of newTable was being generated by a different function not included here. Nevertheless, it can be modified to suit any purpose. For instance, the tables

(a,...z)

can be stored in a struct object and the contents accessed and merged using this loop.

resTable = table(zeros(length(a),n))
for i = 1:length(n)%asuming n defines as single vector for which an enumerator can be applied
newTable = table(rowNames, tabVals, 'VariableNames', {'Key','Var2'});%Here, I create new tables in every iteration
mergedTable = outerjoin(a, newTable, 'MergeKeys', true);
resTable(:,i) = mergedTable;
end
resTable.Properties.RowNames = mergedTable.Key;%since the row names changed positions in the loop