character vector vs scalar string (size comparison).

can any one explain to me why the character vector 'matlab' have a smaller size than the scalar string "matlab" despite that they carry the same information, can any one explain this in simple answer, and can you give me links explain how matlab store data?

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

The string class is basically a fancy container class for character vectors. That is to say, inside every string element is a character vector, so bytes_string > bytes_character will always hold true for the "same" text.

Of course because the string class is a container class, it also has its own overhead, as described here:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/361783-what-are-the-internal-differences-between-matlab-strings-and-character-arrays

Unfortunately this page has not been updated for string arrays, but the information given for cell arrays will be similar:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/memory-allocation.html#brh72ex-14