array indexing with another array in multidimensional matrices

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Thank you in advance for helping:
I have a multidimensional matrix (let's say 4D as example) and I want to index its values through another matrix which contains all possible combinations, as an example:
A=randi(10,5,4,3,2) %%is 4D matrix
and I want to index its "submatrices" through another vector, without performing for loops. In this specific case my indexing matrix would be:
idx=[1,1;2,1;3,1;1,2;2,2;3,2] %%is indexing matrix
through which I would like to obtain my resulting matrices:
A(:,:,1,1);
A(:,:,2,1);
A(:,:,3,1);
A(:,:,1,2);
A(:,:,2,2);
A(:,:,3,2);
by adding the last two indices with my indexing matrix:
A(:,:,B(1,:));
A(:,:,B(2,:));
A(:,:,B(3,:));
A(:,:,B(4,:));
A(:,:,B(5,:));
A(:,:,B(6,:));
but the two forms don't give the same results and I would like to code a form similar to the last one to obtain the first results, i.e. singe 2D matrices.
Thanks

Accepted Answer

Cris LaPierre
Cris LaPierre on 2 Aug 2020
Edited: Cris LaPierre on 2 Aug 2020
The issue here is that, when indexing, a vector of numbers acts on a single dimension. When indexing, a comma separates dimensoins, much like in a function you use a comma to separate the different inputs. You are expecting MATLAB to 'know' you want the first column to apply to one dimiension, and the second column to another. Instead, you must explicity state the input for each dimension, separating each with a comma:
A(:,:,B(:,1),B(:,2))
  8 Comments
gabriele fadanelli
gabriele fadanelli on 2 Aug 2020
I am sorry I didn't want to get people confused in trying to address a problem I couldn't explain without an example. Your help was very appreciated, thanks.
gabriele fadanelli
gabriele fadanelli on 2 Aug 2020
I actually need to extract specific 2D matrices, but through reshaping I can manage, thanks.

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More Answers (1)

Bruno Luong
Bruno Luong on 2 Aug 2020
Edited: Bruno Luong on 2 Aug 2020
A=randi(10,5,4,3,2)
idx=[1,1;2,1;3,1;1,2;2,2;3,2]
Then
sz=size(A);
Aidx = A(:,:,sub2ind(sz(3:4),idx(:,1),idx(:,2)))
  6 Comments
Bruno Luong
Bruno Luong on 2 Aug 2020
I have impression you do something overly complicated.
You replace the indexing of last p-dimension by all combinations possible of the p last indexes.
This is insanely redundant, you already have your data with all the combination in the original form. Simple use permute/reshape will put them in the form you want no need those combination/indexing.
gabriele fadanelli
gabriele fadanelli on 2 Aug 2020
Yes, at first I couldn't manage it, but now yes! Anyway I aso need the 2D matrices and Mr LaPierre solution perfectly fits

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