I am writing a set of customized plot functions in MATLAB, whose aim is to ensure a more consistent look of our company charts and to be fast.
In these customized functions, I would like to reproduce MATLAB's variability in allowing multiple syntax options for function calls, similar to the syntax options available for MATLAB's plot function.
So, say my function is plotFun.m, then the following function calls should all work:
plotFun(y)
plotFun(x,y)
plotFun(ax,_)
plotFun(_,Name,Value)
I am familiar with inputParser and several other techniques to parse name-value pairs passed as varargin, yet I cannot figure out how to parse the first arguments, that is ax, x and y...
I have scanned the file exchange and found several contributions for parsing name-value pairs (somehow overlapping with the inputParser functionality), but none of them seems to do the trick in this case.
EDIT:
In reply to thewaywewalk 's comment, here are some more details regarding what the syntax options should do.
Suppose plotFun does something similar as the line function (but with other defaults and a different set of allowed options).
y should be validated to be a numerical vector
x (if present) should be validated to be a numerical or datetime vector
plotFun(x,y)
If x is of class datetime, x = datenum(x), then
call line(x,y, 'Parent',gca)
plotFun(y)
should set x = 1:numel(y), then call line(x,y, 'Parent',gca) as above
plotFun(ax,_)
should do the same as above, but call line(x,y, 'Parent',ax) instead of gca
plotFun(_,Name,Value)
should parse and validate the name-value pairs and pass them to the call of line. I solved this task with the help of inputParser.
EDIT 2
In the world of my dreams, hitting Ctrl + F1 for plotFun would show the function hints, that is, a list of allowed syntax options (like the one I typed in the code block above), as opposed to showing a more cryptic plotFun(varargin)...
Related
Using deal we can write anonymous functions that have multiple output arguments, like for example
minmax = #(x)deal(min(x),max(x));
[u,v] = minmax([1,2,3,4]); % outputs u = 1, v = 4
But if you want to provide a function with its gradient to the optimization function fminunc this does not work. The function fminunc calls the input function sometimes with one and sometimes with two output arguments. (EDIT: This is not true, you just have to specify whether you actually want to use the gradient or not, using e.g. optimset('SpecifyObjectiveGradient',true). Then within one call it always asks for the same number of arguments.)
We have to provide something like
function [f,g] = myFun(x)
f = x^2; % function
g = 2*x; % gradient
which can be called with one or two output arguments.
So is there a way to do the same inline without using the function keyword?
Yes there is, it involves a technique used in this question about recursive anonymous functions. First we define a helper function
helper = #(c,n)deal(c{1:n});
which accepts a cell array c of the possible outputs as well as an integer n that says how many outputs we need. To write our actual function we just need to define the cell array and pass nargout (the number of expected output arguments) to helper:
myFun = #(x)helper({x^2,2*x,2},nargout);
This now works perfectly when calling fminunc:
x = fminunc(myFun,1);
The OP's solution is good in that it's concise and useful in many cases.
However, it has one main shortcoming, in that it's less scalable than otherwise possible. This claim is made because all functions ({x^2,2*x,2}) are evaluated, regardless of whether they're needed as outputs or not - which results in "wasted" computation time and memory consumption when less than 3 outputs are requested.
In the example of this question this is not an issue because the function and its derivatives are very easy to compute and the input x is a scalar, but under different circumstances, this can be a very real issue.
I'm providing a modified version, which although uglier, avoids the aforementioned problem and is somewhat more general:
funcs_to_apply = {#(x)x.^2, #(x)2*x, #(x)2};
unpacker = #(x)deal(x{:});
myFun = #(x)unpacker(cellfun(#(c)feval(c,x),...
funcs_to_apply(1:evalin('caller','nargout')),...
'UniformOutput',false)...
);
Notes:
The additional functions I use are cellfun, evalin and feval.
The 'UniformOutput' argument was only added so that the output of cellfun is a cell (and can be "unpacked" to a comma-separated list; we could've wrapped it in num2cell instead).
The evalin trick is required since in the myFun scope we don't know how many outputs were requested from unpacker.
While eval in its various forms (here: evalin) is usually discouraged, in this case we know exactly who the caller is and that this is a safe operation.
Hi, I am trying to write a function as per the question. I have tried to create four sub-matrices which are the reverse of each other and then multiply to give the products demanded by the question. My attempt:
function T = custom_blocksT(n,m)
T(1:end,end-1:1);
T(1:end,end:-1:1)*2;
T(1:end,end:-1:1)*3;
T(1:end,end:-1:1)*4;
What I'm unsure of is
(i) What do the the indivual sub-matrices(T(1:end,end-1:1);)need to be equal to? I was thinking of(1:3)?
(ii) I tried to create a generic sub-matrix which can take any size matrix input using end was this correct or can't you do that? I keep getting this error
Undefined function or variable 'T'.
Error in custom_blocksT (line 2)
T(1:end,end-1:1);
I have searched the Matlab documentation and stacked overflow, but the problem is I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be looking for in terms of solving this question.
If someone could help me I would be very thankfull.
There are many problems with your function:
function T = custom_blocksT(n,m)
T(1:end,end-1:1);
T(1:end,end:-1:1)*2;
T(1:end,end:-1:1)*3;
T(1:end,end:-1:1)*4;
end
This is an extremely basic question, I highly recommend you find and work through some very basic MATLAB tutorials before continuing, even before reading this answer to be honest.
That said here is what you should have done and a bit of what you did wrong:
First, you are getting the error that T dos not exist because it doesn't. The only variables that exist in your function are those that you create in the function or those that are passed in as parameters. You should have passed in T as a parameter, but instead you passed in n and m which you don't use.
In the question, they call the function using the example:
custom_blocks([1:3;3:-1:1])
So you can see that they are only passing in one variable, your function takes two and that's already a problem. The one variable is the matrix, not it's dimensions. And the matrix they are passing in is [1:3;3:-1:1] which if you type in the command line you will see gives you
[1 2 3
3 2 1]
So for your first line to take in one argument which is that matrix it should rather read
function TOut = custom_blocks(TIn)
Now what they are asking you to do is create a matrix, TOut, which is just different multiples of TIn concatenated.
What you've done with say TIn(1:end,end-1:1)*2; is just ask MATLAB to multiple TIn by 2 (that's the only correct bit) but then do nothing with it. Furthermore, indexing the rows by 1:end will do what you want (i.e. request all the rows) but in MATLAB you can actually just use : for that. Indexing the columns by end-1:1 will also call all the columns, but in reverse order. So in effect you are flipping your matrix left-to-right which I'm sure is not what you wanted. So you could have just written TIn(:,:) but since that's just requesting the entire matrix unchanged you could actually just write TIn.
So now to multiply and concatenate (i.e. stick together) you do this
TOut = [TIn, TIn*2; TIn*3, TIn*4]
The [] is like a concatenate operation where , is for horizontal and ; is for vertical concatenation.
Putting it all together:
function TOut = custom_blocks(TIn)
TOut = [TIn, TIn*2; TIn*3, TIn*4];
end
Mathworks has done it again: my ancient R2012 (as bestowed by my company) returns a nice set of doubles identifying the figure window numbers in response to
currhandles=findall(0,'type','figure');
Now I got a fellow remotely IM-ing me 'cause the code I gave him fails under R2015 because findall now returns a structure for the figure handle. I can't play w/ his system (no RDC) and the mathworks documentation pages don't appear to specify the elements of the figure handle structure. In particular, I'd like to know if I can still retrieve the figure window number. Anyone know?
Of course.
currhandles(:).Number
will return all numbers as a comma-separated list.
Or specify a number you want:
currhandles(1).Number
The order appears to be the inverse order of initialization.
Alternatively you can define two anonymous functions to get an array directly:
figure(1); figure(2); figure(42);
getNumbers = #(x) [x.Number];
getFigureNumbers = #() getNumbers([findall(0,'type','figure')]);
getFigureNumbers()
ans =
42 2 1
I would like to ensure that the input arguments to a user-defined MATLAB function (contained in an m-file) are of a certain type. I understand that MATLAB automatically assigns data types to variables (to the liking of some and the dismay of others), but I would like to know if there is an option of "strict data typing" in MATLAB, or something of the sort, especially for input arguments for a user-defined function.
I found a helpful explanation of MATLAB's "fundamental classes" (data types) at these two webpages:
http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/fundamental-matlab-classes.html
http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/data-types_data-types.html
However, I have been unable to find an answer to the question of strict data typing, particularly for function input arguments. I thought it would be a pretty basic question that already had been answered in numerous places, but after extensive searching I have not yet found a conclusive answer. For now, I have been manually checking the data type using the is[TYPE]() functions and displaying an error message if it does not comply, though this seems sloppy and I wish I could just get MATLAB to enforce it for me.
Below is an example of a function in which I would like to specify the input argument data type. It resides in a file called strict_data_type_test.m in MATLAB's current path. In this function, I would like to force the variable yes_or_no to be of MATLAB's logical data type. I know I can use the islogical() function to manually check, but my question is if it is possible to have MATLAB enforce it for me. I also know that any non-zero double evaluates to true and a zero evaluates to false, but I want to force the user to send a logical to make sure the wrong argument was not sent in by accident, for example. Here is the example function:
function y = strict_data_type_test( x, yes_or_no )
% manual data type check can go here, but manual check is not desirable
if (yes_or_no)
y = 2 .* x;
else
y = -5 .* x;
end
end
Adding the data type before the input argument variable name (like in most programming languages) treats the data type text as another variable name instead of a data type identifier. From that it would seem that strict data typing is not possible in MATLAB by any means, but maybe one of you many gurus knows a useful trick, feature, or syntax that I have not been able to find.
validateattributes might also work for you, if there is an appropriate attribute for your case. For example if you want to enforce that yes_or_no is a logical scalar, you could try:
validateattributes(yes_or_no,{'logical'},{'scalar'})
Otherwise maybe an attribute like 'nonempty'.
I've gotten some great responses so I can't pick just one as the "accepted answer", but to summarize what I've learned from you all so far:
No, MATLAB does not have built-in strict data typing for function input arguments
MATLAB compiles the code before running, so manual validation checking should not be very taxing on performance (the profiler can be used to assess this)
Many helpful methods of doing the manual validation checking exist, listed here in order of most relevant to least relevant for what I was trying to do:
inputParser class
validateattributes()
Error/exception handling (throw(), error(), assert(), etc.)
MATLAB's built-in state detection functions (a.k.a predicate functions)
I can look through some MathWorks-provided MATLAB functions (or Statistics toolbox functions) for ideas on how to validate input arguments by typing edit followed by the function name. Two suggested functions to look at are normpdf() (from the Statistics toolbox) and integral(). Some other functions I found helpful to look at are dot() and cross().
Other thoughts:
It would appear that the inputParser class was the overall concensus on the most professional way to validate input arguments. It was noted on a related (but not duplicate) stackoverflow post that the newer MathWorks functions tend to make use of this class, suggesting that it may be the best and most up-to-date choice.
Since the MathWorks-provided MATLAB functions do not appear to enforce strict input argument data typing, this further suggests that even if it was possible to do so, it may not be a recommended approach.
MATLAB seems to regard "error handling" and "exception handling" as two different concepts. For example, here are two links to MATLAB's Documentation Center that show how MathWorks considers "error handling" and "exception handling" differently: MathWorks Documentation Center article on Error Handling, MathWorks Documentation Center article on Exception Handling. A relevant StackOverflow post has been made on this topic and can be found here (link). I contacted MathWorks and added some new information about this topic to that post, so if you are interested you may read more by following that link.
Matlab provides an 'inputParser' which allows to check inputs. Besides this you can use assertions:
assert(islogical(yes_or_no),'logical input expected')
To ensure the correct number of input arguments, use narginchk.
btw: Take a look in some Matlab functions like edit integral and check how tmw deals with this.
You may find writing this sort of code tedious or worry that it degrades performance:
if ~islogical(yes_or_no) && ~isscalar(yes_or_no)
error('test:NotLogicalType','Second argument must be logical (Boolean).');
end
if yes_or_no
y = 2 .* x;
else
y = -5 .* x;
end
Recall, however, that Matlab compiles the code before running so even if you need to test many conditions it will be quite fast. Run the profiler to see.
Another option in some cases (maybe not your example) is to use a lazier method. This option lets your code run with whatever inputs were provided, but uses a try/catch block to trap any error:
try
if yes_or_no
y = 2 .* x;
else
y = -5 .* x;
end
catch me
...
error('test:NotLogicalType','Second argument must be logical (Boolean).');
% rethrow(me);
end
The code above would produce an error if yes_or_no was a cell array for example (it will still allow non-Boolean, non-scalar, etc. values for yes_or_no though, but Matlab is often overly permissive). You can then either generate a custom error message, detect, what kind of error was thrown and try something else, etc. Many of the functions in the Statistics toolbox use this approach (e.g., type edit normpdf in your command window) for better or worse.
When using a multiple-output matlab function, do i need to callback all variables? or can I just take the first two variables? (if so..is it not recommended?)
lets say in function.m
[a, b, c] = function( )
in main.m
[var1, var2] = function;
When calling (almost) any function in matlab you can request fewer outputs than it specifies. So, yes the example you give should work perfectly fine.
There are some clever things you can do with this, such as using nargout within a function to see how many output arguments have been requested and only calculating the values that have been requested as an optimisation trick.
It depends on the definition of the function, and exactly which of the outputs you want to get.
Not all the function allow to do it, you can find all the options for each function in the beginning of the help documentation on the specific function.
If you want only the 2nd, or 3rd outputs, and you want also to save the computation-time of the results that does not interesting, you can use ~ option, like this (for versions 2009b and later):
[~, var1, var2]=function
Many functions allow for options to passed that change how the function behaves. I used/wrote various numerical solving functions a bit and one that nice amount of option, for instance is the LSMR function(s).
Otherwise, if you can manipulate the original either introduce an input(s) to do so before or at the end with an inline subroutine to generate the outputs you want.
Or if you can't it will return as either a cell array or a vector and you can pass an anonymous function to generate the desired outputs that way.
Really, can be done many ways. Very contextual.