From: Jan Simon on
Dear Pasan,

> for a datetime cell array of 602870 elements,
> dt_numbers=cellfun(@(x)datenum(x,'yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS'),dt_strings); > 365 s
>
> dt_numbers=datenum(dt_strings,'yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS');
> 4.1 s

The first version of the C-mex is on the FEX, but the included test function uses the wrong syntax for the calls of DATENUM. Therefore the time comparison is not fair:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/28069
I've sent update some minutes ago. The computation is further 5% faster, because more integer operations as used.
Finally DateStr2Num needs about 0.95% of the time spent by DATENUM for strings, and 1.8% to 4.2% for {1 x 10000} cell strings - for 2009a.
Perhaps this helps.

Are you familiar with compiling Mex functions?

Jan
From: Jan Simon on
Dear readers,

Sorry, the above mention link is currently not working:
> ...fileexchange/28069
Please wait, Jan
From: Jan Simon on
Dear readers,

> Sorry, the above mention link is currently not working:
> > ...fileexchange/28069

DateStr2Num as Mex can be found now:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/28093

Jan