transform text data like {'1951:Q4'} with quarterly dates to number x axis of a plot

I read this series fdate in xlsread:

[x,fdate,raw] = xlsread('C:/Users/Owner/Documents/Research/Data/USTreasury/Z1_FL210/z1_csv_files/csv/Z210finaccts.xlsx','A27:J305');. I define fdate1 = fdate(:,1) and get the following column vector:

{'1951:Q4'}

{'1952:Q1'}

{'1952:Q2'}

{'1952:Q3'}

{'1952:Q4'}

{'1953:Q1'}

{'1953:Q2'}

{'1953:Q3'}

{'1953:Q4'}

{'1954:Q1'}

{'1954:Q2'}

{'1954:Q3'}

{'1954:Q4'}

{'1955:Q1'}

{'1955:Q2'}

datetick('x', 'YYYY:QQ','keepticks')

How can I use/transform this column vectors to plot on the x axis in this line of code:

plot (fdate1,x(:,3:4),'LineWidth',1) %1951Q4

I get 'Error using plot Invalid data argument'

Thank you

Answer 1

[Kelly Kearney]

I'd recommend converting your fdate cell array to an array of datetimes:

fdate = datetime(fdate, 'InputFormat', 'uuuu:''Q''Q');

From there, you should be able to plot as needed.

[Nancy Hammond]

Thank you so much, Kelly. I needed the answer instantly! Apologies for late reply, I kept working away coding