MATLAB : dynamic variables not updated directly in the workspace - matlab

I have a problem with some varaibles.
I create variables dynamically in a loop.
for i=1:nbr
assignin('base', ['x_',num2str(i)],0)
end
And after, I would like to put the result of my function in these variables. But the variables in the base of the workspace are not updated directly so I have an error "Undefined function or variable". How can I fix my problem ?
for i=1:nbr
['x_',num2str(i)]= fonction(input);
end
Thank you in advance
Best regard

Instead, use a cell array:
x{i} = function(input);
Then return the entire cell array back to the caller, so that you never need to use assignin. The whole function body would look like this:
function x = myfunction(someinput)
for i=1:nbr
x{i} = someotherfunction(input);
end
% Cell array x is returned from the function

Related

Save values that are calculated in a function for each iteration of fminsearch

I want to find the Minimum of a function using
[x,fval] = fminsearch(#(param) esm6(param,identi),result(k,1:end-1),options)
now for each Iteration step i want some values that the function 'esm6' calculates to be saved in an Array. I tried the following:
In the first line of the function i wrote
identi.sim.i_optiIter = identi.sim.i_optiIter + 1;
to have an iteration-variable counting the iteration steps of fminsearch. And later to catch the values that I need I used
identi.sim.guete_werte.gew(identi.sim.i_optiIter,:,:) = y_sim;
identi.sim.guete_werte.ungew(identi.sim.i_optiIter,:,:) = y_sim_ungew;
and to make sure that I use the new values of the identi-struct for the next function call, I wrote this at the end of the function:
assignin('base','identi',identi);
Now unfortunatly it doesn't do what I wanted it to do. Can anyone help me with this?
EDIT:
I made another attempt on it, using an Output function. I extendend my Options like this:
options = optimset('Display','iter','MaxIter',3,'OutputFcn',#outfun);
But now the Problem is that i cannot figure out where to put this outfun. The outfun Looks like this:
function stop = outfun(x,optimvalues,state,iteration,y_sim,y_sim_ungew)
stop = false;
if state == 'iter'
guete_werte.gew(iteration,:,:) = y_sim;
guete_werte.ungew(iteration,:,:) = y_sim_ungew;
end
end
Now the Problem with it is, that i can not put it in the file, where i call the fminsearch, because that is a script. If i put the outputfunction into a separate .m-function file, it is not able to Access the variables of the esm6 function. And if I add it to the esm6-function file, matlab can't find the function and says
??? Error using ==> feval Undefined function or method 'outfun' for
input arguments of type 'struct'.

Assigning to variables using dynamic naming

I am creating a function with two inputs, and would like to know how I can name the output accorinding to the name of the inputs.
E.g.
function [padded_*input_name*] = padstruct(S, F)
later in code...
else
padded_*input_name* = padarray(toPad, (longest - size(toPad,1)), NaN('double'), 'post');
So if I enter a struct (labelled as S in the input arguments) called my_struct, I would like to get an output called padded_my_struct. But this should be free to change according to the name of the input struct. I want to do this because I have a lot of structs to run through this function and I want to explicitly know from the output name, which is which.
I am a beginner with Matlab and so would appreciate any exaplanation or references to literature.
I don't quite give you what you want. Instead, I have a function that, given the inputs Account and F, produces in the base workspace a variable "padded_Account", and returns the name of the variable it creates.
function padded_Sname_str=padstruct(Sin,F)
%get the name of the structure used in the function call here
Sname=inputname(1);
%do stuff to Sin here
Sin.pad=F; %this is just my test operation
%create the name of the new variable you want
padded_Sname_str=['padded_',Sname];
%this creates it in the base workspace, since passing back as an
%output argument doesn't preserve the name
assignin('base',padded_Sname_str,Sin)
return
Hope this is helpful. Cheers!
Try this -
function [padded_*input_name*] = padstruct(S, F)
%// .. later on in code
else
value = padarray(toPad, (longest - size(toPad,1)), NaN('double'), 'post');
evalc(['padded_' inputname(1) '= value']);
Let us know if it works for you!

Provide variable argument list

I have a function which accepts a variable number of input variables. The problem is, the number of input arguments I'm going to provide varies. As such, I store all the arguments in a structure:
function grandAvg(datafiles)
% Load up all averaged datafiles
avgs = struct();
for n=1:length(datafiles)
avgs(n).avg = load(datafiles{n});
end
My question is, is there a way to expand this argument for the function? I need a way to convert this:
% DOES NOT WORK
avg = ft_timelockgrandaverage(cfg, avgs);
to this:
% WOULD WORK, BUT DO NOT WANT TO TYPE IT OUT
avg = ft_timelockgrandaverage(cfg, avgs(1).avg, ..., avgs(n).avg);
EDIT TO ADD: So apparently my question wasn't clear. I know how to construct the function using varargin. My question was, if I am trying to use a build-in function which I don't want to or can't modify, how can I provide arguments in a variable manner? I.e., I don't know ahead of time how many argument's I'll be providing, so when I call the function, I'll have to call it with X number of arguments. In effect, I'm looking for a way to turn this:
someVar <1xN struct>
into this:
someVar1 <1x1 struct>
someVar2 <1x1 struct>
...
someVarN <1x1 struct>
in a programmatic manner. Thanks!
An alternative to using a structure array to store your data would be to use a cell array. For example:
nFiles = numel(datafiles); %# Number of files
avgs = cell(1,nFiles); %# Initialize an empty cell array
for iFile = 1:nFiles %# Loop over the files
avgs{iFile} = load(datafiles{iFile}); %# Load the data into each cell
end
avg = ft_timelockgrandaverage(cfg, avgs{:}); %# Pass the contents to a function
The syntax avgs{:} dumps the contents of the cell array into what's called a comma-separated list. It is equivalent to typing avgs{1}, avgs{2}, ... , avgs{end}. The syntax foo(:).bar from the answer you found also creates a comma-separated list, but I find that using cell arrays for such a purpose is generally cleaner than using a structure array.
yes you can use variable length input argument list
varargin
http://www.mathworks.com/help/techdoc/ref/varargin.html
So, after playing around, I've got it. Using the example from above:
Given an 1xN struct named foo, where each foo(n) contains the field bar, I would call the function as:
function(foo(:).bar);
This is the same as typing
function(foo(1).bar, foo(2).bar, ..., foo(N).bar);
In this way, I can dynamically expand or shrink foo and still have no problem calling the function.
You can surely do such a thing, by means of the varargin construct in MATLAB. This will be something like:
avg = ft_timelockgrandaverage(cfg, avgs.avg);
And for the function ft_timelockgrandaverage
function output = ft_timelockgrandaverage(config, varargin)
% your code here
varargin will be a cell array: {avgs(1).avg, avgs(2).avg, ..., avgs(3).avg} which you can process.

Passing matrices from function to function in MATLAB

I'm pretty new to MATLAB and I have a simple question. What if I have the following structured functions:
function[A] = test(A)
test1(A);
test2(A);
end
function test1(A)
#% do something with A
end
function test2(A)
#% do something else with the newly modified A
end
How do I pass around A from function to function keeping it's modified nature? (Suppose A is a matrix)
EDIT: let's make the situation a little simpler. Suppose my main function is:
function[a]=test(a)
test1(a);
#%test2(a);
end
and test1() is defined as:
function[a] = test1(a)
a=5;
end
Then, I call the function test with test(3), and I want it to report ans = 5, yet it still reports ans = 3.
Thanks!
Variables in MATLAB are passed using "call by value" (with some exceptions), so any value that you pass to a function and modify has to be returned from the function and either placed in a new variable or the old variable overwritten. Returning the value of a variable from a function is simple: you just place the variable name in the output argument list for the function.
For your example, you would do this:
function A = test(A)
A = test1(A); %# Overwrite A with value returned from test1
A = test2(A); %# Overwrite A with value returned from test2
end
function A = test1(A) %# Pass in A and return a modified A
#% Modify A
end
function A = test2(A) %# Pass in A and return a modified A
#% Modify A
end
One thing to be aware of is variable scope. Every function has its own workspace to store its own local variables, so there are actually 3 unique A variables in the above example: one in the workspace of test, one in the workspace of test1, and one in the workspace of test2. Just because they are named the same doesn't mean they all share the same value.
For example, when you call test1 from test, the value stored in the variable A in test is copied to the variable A in test1. When test1 modifies its local copy of A, the value of A in test is unchanged. To update the value of A in test, the return value from test1 has to be copied to it.
Return the object from the function and then pass it on to the next function.

Clever way to assign multiple fields at once?

Due to legacy function calls I'm sometimes forced to write ugly wrappers like this
function return = someWrapper(someField)
a = someField.a;
b = someField.b;
% and so on, realistically it's more like ten variables that
% could actually be grouped in a struct
save('params.mat', 'a', 'b'); %etc.
% then, on another machine, a function loads params.mat, does the calculations
% and saves the result in result.mat containing the variables c,d,...
load('result.mat', 'c', 'd');
return.c = c;
return.d = d;
% again, it's more than just two return values
So the basic idea is to create variables with the same names as someField's fieldnames, run a function and create a return structure using someFunction's return variable's names as fieldnames.
Is there some way simplify this using some loop e.g. over fieldnames(someField)?
Or should I actually use some different approach? Since some further processing is done with someField and result I'd like to keep using structs, but maybe a second question would be
Can save and load redirect varibale names? I.e. could e.g. the variable a in params.mat be stored using someField.a as value instead of having to assign a = someField.a first?
Why not something like this?
if this is s:
s.a=1
s.b=2
s.c=3
Then this command creates a matfile named "arguments" with variables a, b, c:
save arguments.mat -struct s
And this command loads a matfiles variables into a structure
r = load('arguments.mat')
How about using ASSIGNIN and dynamic fieldnames to loop over the structure fields and create the appropriate variables in the workspace:
function struct2base(s)
for f = fieldnames(s)'
assignin('base', f{:}, s.(f{:}))
end
Have a look at the deal() function.