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countlabels

Count number of unique labels

Since R2021a

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Syntax

cnt = countlabels(lblsrc)
cnt = countlabels(lblsrc,Name,Value)

Description

Use this function when you are working on a machine or deep learning classification problem and you want to look at the proportions of label values in your dataset.

cnt = countlabels(lblsrc) counts the number of unique label category values in lblsrc and returns the count in cnt.

example

cnt = countlabels(lblsrc,Name,Value) specifies additional input arguments using name-value pairs. For example, 'TableVariable','Color' reads the labels corresponding to 'Color'.

example

Examples

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Open Live Script

Categorical Arrays

Generate a categorical array with the categories A, B, C, and D. The array contains samples of each category.

lbls = categorical(["B" "C" "A" "D" "B" "A" "A" "B" "C" "A"]', ...
    ["A" "B" "C" "D"])
lbls = 10x1 categorical
     B 
     C 
     A 
     D 
     B 
     A 
     A 
     B 
     C 
     A

Count the number of unique label category values in the array.

cnt = countlabels(lbls)
cnt=4×3 table
    Label    Count    Percent
    _____    _____    _______

      A        4        40   
      B        3        30   
      C        2        20   
      D        1        10

Generate a second categorical array with the same categories. The array contains samples of each category and one sample with a missing value.

mlbls = categorical(["B" "C" "A" "D" "B" "A" missing "B" "C" "A"]', ...
    ["A" "B" "C" "D"])
mlbls = 10x1 categorical
     B 
     C 
     A 
     D 
     B 
     A 
     <undefined> 
     B 
     C 
     A

Count the number of unique label category values in the array. The sample with a missing value is included in the count as <undefined>.

mcnt = countlabels(mlbls)
mcnt=5×3 table
       Label       Count    Percent
    ___________    _____    _______

    A                3        30   
    B                3        30   
    C                2        20   
    D                1        10   
    <undefined>      1        10

Character Arrays

Read William Shakespeare's sonnets with the fileread function. Remove all nonalphabetic characters from the text and convert to lowercase.

sonnets = fileread("sonnets.txt");
letters = lower(sonnets(regexp(sonnets,"[A-z]")))';

Count how many times each letter appears in the sonnets. List the letters that appear most often.

cnt = countlabels(letters);
cnt = sortrows(cnt,"Count","descend");
head(cnt)
    Label    Count    Percent
    _____    _____    _______

      e      9028     12.298 
      t      7210     9.8216 
      o      5710     7.7782 
      h      5064     6.8982 
      s      4994     6.8029 
      a      4940     6.7293 
      i      4895      6.668 
      n      4522     6.1599

Numeric Arrays

Use the poisrand function to generate an array of 1000 random integers from the Poisson distribution with rate parameter 3. Plot a histogram of the results.

N = 1000;
lam = 3;

nums = zeros(N,1);
for jk = 1:N
    nums(jk) = poisrand(lam);
end

histogram(nums)

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type histogram.

Count the frequencies of the integers represented in the array.

mm = countlabels(nums)
mm=10×3 table
    Label    Count    Percent
    _____    _____    _______

     0         36       3.6  
     1        153      15.3  
     10         1       0.1  
     2        211      21.1  
     3        213      21.3  
     4        184      18.4  
     5        114      11.4  
     6         58       5.8  
     7         20         2  
     8         10         1  


function num = poisrand(lam)
% Poisson random integer using rejection method
    p = 0;
    num = -1;
    while p <= lam
        p = p - log(rand);
        num = num + 1;
    end
end
Open Live Script

Create a table of characters with two variables. The first variable Type1 contains instances of the letters P, Q, and R. The second variable Type2 contains instances of the letters A, B, and D.

tbl = table(["P" "R" "P" "Q" "Q" "Q" "R" "P"]', ...
    ["A" "B" "B" "A" "D" "D" "A" "A"]',...
    'VariableNames',["Type1","Type2"]);

Count how many times each letter appears in each of the table variables.

cnt = countlabels(tbl,'TableVariable','Type1')
cnt=3×3 table
    Type1    Count    Percent
    _____    _____    _______

      P        3       37.5  
      Q        3       37.5  
      R        2         25  


cnt = countlabels(tbl,'TableVariable','Type2')
cnt=3×3 table
    Type2    Count    Percent
    _____    _____    _______

      A        4        50   
      B        2        25   
      D        2        25

Create an ArrayDatastore object containing the table. 

ads = arrayDatastore(tbl,'OutputType','same');

Count how many times each letter appears in each of the table variables.

cnt = countlabels(ads,'TableVariable','Type1')
cnt=3×3 table
    Type1    Count    Percent
    _____    _____    _______

      P        3       37.5  
      Q        3       37.5  
      R        2         25  


cnt = countlabels(ads,'TableVariable','Type2')
cnt=3×3 table
    Type2    Count    Percent
    _____    _____    _______

      A        4        50   
      B        2        25   
      D        2        25

Input Arguments

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Input label source, specified as one of these:

  • A categorical vector.

  • A string vector or a cell array of character vectors.

  • A numeric vector or a cell array of numeric scalars.

  • A logical vector or a cell array of logical scalars.

  • A table with variables containing any of the previous data types.

  • A datastore whose readall function returns any of the previous data types.

  • A CombinedDatastore object containing an underlying datastore whose readall function returns any of the previous data types. In this case, you must specify the index of the underlying datastore that has the label values.

lblsrc must contain labels that can be converted to a vector with a discrete set of categories.

Example: lblsrc = categorical(["B" "C" "A" "E" "B" "A" "A" "B" "C" "A"],["A" "B" "C" "D"]) creates the label source as a ten-sample categorical vector with four categories: A, B, C, and D.

Example: lblsrc = [0 7 2 5 11 17 15 7 7 11] creates the label source as a ten-sample numeric vector.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical | char | string | table | cell | categorical

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: 'TableVariable','Sex','UnderlyingDatastoreIndex',5 reads the labels corresponding to 'Sex' only in the fifth underlying datastore of a combined datastore.

Table variable to read, specified as a character vector or string scalar. If this argument is not specified, then countlabels uses the first table variable.

Underlying datastore index, specified as an integer scalar. This argument applies when lblsrc is a CombinedDatastore object. countlabels counts the labels in the datastore obtained using the UnderlyingDatastores property of lblsrc.

Output Arguments

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Unique label counts, returned as a table with these variables:

  • Label — Unique label category values. If 'TableVariable' is specified, then the Label name is replaced with the table variable name.

  • Count — Number of instances of each label value.

  • Percent — Proportion of each label value, expressed as a percentage.

Version History

Introduced in R2021a

See Also

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