Warning The MATLAB interface is under active development and should be considered experimental.
This is a very early stage MATLAB interface to the Apache Arrow C++ libraries.
Currently, the MATLAB interface supports:
- Converting between a subset of Arrow
Arraytypes and MATLAB array types (see table below) - Converting between MATLAB
tables andarrow.tabular.RecordBatchs - Creating Arrow
Fields,Schemas, andTypes - Reading and writing Feather V1 files
Supported arrow.array.Array types are included in the table below.
NOTE: All Arrow Array classes listed below are part of the arrow.array package (e.g. arrow.array.Float64Array).
| MATLAB Array Type | Arrow Array Type |
|---|---|
uint8 |
UInt8Array |
uint16 |
UInt16Array |
uint32 |
UInt32Array |
uint64 |
UInt64Array |
int8 |
Int8Array |
int16 |
Int16Array |
int32 |
Int32Array |
int64 |
Int64Array |
single |
Float32Array |
double |
Float64Array |
logical |
BooleanArray |
string |
StringArray |
datetime |
TimestampArray |
datetime |
Date32Array |
datetime |
Date64Array |
duration |
Time32Array |
duration |
Time64Array |
cell |
ListArray |
table |
StructArray |
To build the MATLAB Interface to Apache Arrow from source, the following software must be installed on the target machine:
- MATLAB
- CMake
- C++ compiler which supports C++20 (e.g.
gccon Linux,Xcodeon macOS, orVisual Studioon Windows) - Git
To set up a local working copy of the source code, start by cloning the apache/arrow GitHub repository using Git:
$ git clone https://github.com/apache/arrow.gitAfter cloning, change the working directory to the matlab subdirectory:
$ cd arrow/matlabTo build the MATLAB interface, use CMake:
$ cmake -S . -B build
$ cmake --build build --config ReleaseTo install the MATLAB interface to the default software installation location for the target machine (e.g. /usr/local on Linux or C:\Program Files on Windows), pass the --target install flag to CMake.
$ cmake --build build --config Release --target installAs part of the install step, the installation directory is added to the MATLAB Search Path.
Note: This step may fail if the current user is lacking necessary filesystem permissions. If the install step fails, the installation directory can be manually added to the MATLAB Search Path using the addpath command.
To run the MATLAB tests, start MATLAB in the arrow/matlab directory and call the runtests command on the test directory with IncludeSubFolders=true:
>> runtests("test", IncludeSubFolders=true);Refer to Testing Guidelines for more information.
Included below are some example code snippets that illustrate how to use the MATLAB interface.
>> matlabArray = double([1, 2, 3])
matlabArray =
1 2 3
>> arrowArray = arrow.array(matlabArray)
arrowArray =
Float64Array with 3 elements and 0 null values:
1 | 2 | 3>> arrowArray = arrow.array([true, false, true])
arrowArray =
BooleanArray with 3 elements and 0 null values:
true | false | true
>> matlabArray = toMATLAB(arrowArray)
matlabArray =
3×1 logical array
1
0
1>> matlabArray = int8([122, -1, 456, -10, 789])
matlabArray =
1×5 int8 row vector
122 -1 127 -10 127
% Treat all negative array elements as Null
>> validElements = matlabArray > 0
validElements =
1×5 logical array
1 0 1 0 1
% Specify which values are Null/Valid by supplying a logical validity "mask"
>> arrowArray = arrow.array(matlabArray, Valid=validElements)
arrowArray =
Int8Array with 5 elements and 2 null values:
122 | null | 127 | null | 127>> matlabTable = table(["A"; "B"; "C"], [1; 2; 3], [true; false; true])
matlabTable =
3x3 table
Var1 Var2 Var3
____ ____ _____
"A" 1 true
"B" 2 false
"C" 3 true
>> arrowRecordBatch = arrow.recordBatch(matlabTable)
arrowRecordBatch =
Arrow RecordBatch with 3 rows and 3 columns:
Schema:
Var1: String | Var2: Float64 | Var3: Boolean
First Row:
"A" | 1 | true>> arrowRecordBatch
arrowRecordBatch =
Arrow RecordBatch with 3 rows and 3 columns:
Schema:
Var1: String | Var2: Float64 | Var3: Boolean
First Row:
"A" | 1 | true
>> matlabTable = table(arrowRecordBatch)
matlabTable =
3x3 table
Var1 Var2 Var3
____ ____ _____
"A" 1 true
"B" 2 false
"C" 3 true>> stringArray = arrow.array(["A", "B", "C"])
stringArray =
StringArray with 3 elements and 0 null values:
"A" | "B" | "C"
>> timestampArray = arrow.array([datetime(1997, 01, 01), datetime(1998, 01, 01), datetime(1999, 01, 01)])
timestampArray =
TimestampArray with 3 elements and 0 null values:
1997-01-01 00:00:00.000000 | 1998-01-01 00:00:00.000000 | 1999-01-01 00:00:00.000000
>> booleanArray = arrow.array([true, false, true])
booleanArray =
BooleanArray with 3 elements and 0 null values:
true | false | true
>> arrowRecordBatch = arrow.tabular.RecordBatch.fromArrays(stringArray, timestampArray, booleanArray)
arrowRecordBatch =
Arrow RecordBatch with 3 rows and 3 columns:
Schema:
Column1: String | Column2: Timestamp | Column3: Boolean
First Row:
"A" | 1997-01-01 00:00:00.000000 | true>> arrowRecordBatch = arrow.tabular.RecordBatch.fromArrays(stringArray, timestampArray, booleanArray)
arrowRecordBatch =
Arrow RecordBatch with 3 rows and 3 columns:
Schema:
Column1: String | Column2: Timestamp | Column3: Boolean
First Row:
"A" | 1997-01-01 00:00:00.000000 | true
>> timestampArray = arrowRecordBatch.column(2)
timestampArray =
TimestampArray with 3 elements and 0 null values:
1997-01-01 00:00:00.000000 | 1998-01-01 00:00:00.000000 | 1999-01-01 00:00:00.000000>> type = arrow.int8()
type =
Int8Type with properties:
ID: Int8>> type = arrow.timestamp(TimeUnit="Second", TimeZone="Asia/Kolkata")
type =
TimestampType with properties:
ID: Timestamp
TimeUnit: Second
TimeZone: "Asia/Kolkata">> type.ID
ans =
ID enumeration
Timestamp
>> type = arrow.string()
type =
StringType with properties:
ID: String
>> type.ID
ans =
ID enumeration
String>> field = arrow.field("Number", arrow.int8())
field =
Field with properties:
Name: "Number"
Type: [1x1 arrow.type.Int8Type]
>> field.Name
ans =
"Number"
>> field.Type
ans =
Int8Type with properties:
ID: Int8
>> field = arrow.field("Letter", arrow.string())
field =
Field with properties:
Name: "Letter"
Type: [1x1 arrow.type.StringType]
>> field.Name
ans =
"Letter"
>> field.Type
ans =
StringType with properties:
ID: String>> arrowSchema
arrowSchema =
Arrow Schema with 2 fields:
Letter: String | Number: Int8
% Specify the field to extract by its index (i.e. 2)
>> field = arrowSchema.field(2)
field =
Field with properties:
Name: "Number"
Type: [1x1 arrow.type.Int8Type]>> arrowSchema
arrowSchema =
Arrow Schema with 2 fields:
Letter: String | Number: Int8
% Specify the field to extract by its name (i.e. "Letter")
>> field = arrowSchema.field("Letter")
field =
Field with properties:
Name: "Letter"
Type: [1x1 arrow.type.StringType]>> letter = arrow.field("Letter", arrow.string())
letter =
Field with properties:
Name: "Letter"
Type: [1x1 arrow.type.StringType]
>> number = arrow.field("Number", arrow.int8())
number =
Field with properties:
Name: "Number"
Type: [1x1 arrow.type.Int8Type]
>> schema = arrow.schema([letter, number])
schema =
Arrow Schema with 2 fields:
Letter: String | Number: Int8>> matlabTable = table(["A"; "B"; "C"], [1; 2; 3], VariableNames=["Letter", "Number"])
matlabTable =
3x2 table
Letter Number
______ ______
"A" 1
"B" 2
"C" 3
>> arrowRecordBatch = arrow.recordBatch(matlabTable)
arrowRecordBatch =
Arrow RecordBatch with 3 rows and 2 columns:
Schema:
Letter: String | Number: Float64
First Row:
"A" | 1
>> arrowSchema = arrowRecordBatch.Schema
arrowSchema =
Arrow Schema with 2 fields:
Letter: String | Number: Float64>> t = table(["A"; "B"; "C"], [1; 2; 3], [true; false; true])
t =
3×3 table
Var1 Var2 Var3
____ ____ _____
"A" 1 true
"B" 2 false
"C" 3 true
>> filename = "table.feather";
>> featherwrite(filename, t)>> filename = "table.feather";
>> t = featherread(filename)
t =
3×3 table
Var1 Var2 Var3
____ ____ _____
"A" 1 true
"B" 2 false
"C" 3 true