Matlab struct array to python

Question

I have thoroughly looked around to try figuring out a way to create a matlab like struct array in python. There are some questions online that I looked at and either the ans

Answer 1

Update: You may want to investigate Pandas. Its Series and DataFrames are easier to work with and more full-featured than NumPy structured arrays.

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You could use a NumPy structured array:

import numpy as np
channel = np.zeros(1, dtype = [('PRN',int),
                               ('acquiredFreq',int),
                               ('codePhase',int),
                               ('status','|S1')])

print(channel)
# [(0, 0, 0, '')]

Indexing by integer accesses a particular row:

print(channel[0])
# (0, 0, 0, '')

Indexing by column name returns the column as an array:

print(channel['PRN'])
# [0]

Or you can loop through each row and assign to each field (column), but this is relatively slow in NumPy.

for row in channel:
    row['PRN'] = 1
    row['acquiredFreq'] = 1
    row['codePhase'] = 1
    row['status'] = '+'

print(channel)    
# [(1, 1, 1, '+')]

Just for completeness, I'll also mention you can assign by row then column:

channel[0]['status'] = '-'
print(channel)
# [(1, 1, 1, '-')]

or assign by column then row:

channel['PRN'][0] = 10
print(channel)
# [(10, 1, 1, '-')]

I showed the above because it is most similar to the Matlab code you posted. However, let me stress again that assigning to individual cells in a NumPy array is slow. The NumPy-way to do the above is to do whole-array assignments instead:

channel['PRN'] = PRNindexes

where PRNindexes is a sequence (e.g. a list, tuple, or NumPy array).

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You can also use fancy indexing (aka "advanced indexing") to select rows:

index = (channel.status == '+')  # Select all rows with status '+'
channel['PRN'][index] = 10       # Set PRN to 10 for all those rows

Just keep in mind that fancy indexing returns a new array, not a view of the original array. (In contrast, "basic slicing" (e.g. channel[0] or channel[1:10] returns a view.) So if you want to make assignments that alter the original array, select by column first, then fancy index (index)

channel['PRN'][index] = ...

rather than

channel[index]['PRN'] = ...