I'm having some trouble with local functions within my code so I've pasted a simple example below:
function [avg,testvar] = test(x) %Warning
n = length(x);
avg = mymean(x,n);
end
function [a,testvar] = mymean(v,n)
a = sum(v)/n;
testvar=123;
end
One can probably see what I'm attempting; to pass testvar out of the local functions. However Matlab returns the warning:
"The function return value 'testvar' might be unset"
with respect to the line I've commented "%Warning".
What's the best way of getting around this?
You need to specify the value of the second output of test(). Otherwise how can MATLAB know what its value is supposed to be? It doesn't know the second output of mymean() should be routed to the second output of test(). Perhaps this will solve your problem.
function [avg,testvar] = test(x) %Warning
n = length(x);
[avg, testvar] = mymean(x,n);
end
function [a,testvar] = mymean(v,n)
a = sum(v)/n;
testvar=123;
end
The variables between brackets after function are the output variables.
In your first function, you did not assign any value to testvar hence the warning. If you add testvar = 123; in the first function, the warning goes away. Or you can remove testvar from the output variables, leaving:
function avg = test(x)
Related
I wanted to ask how values in MATLAB are returned? Are they copied or passed by reference?
take a look at this example with matrix A:
function main
A = foo(10);
return;
end
function [resultMatrix] = foo(count)
resultMatrix = zeros(count, count);
return;
end
Does the copy operation take place when function returns matrix and assigns it to variable A ?
MATLAB uses a system known as copy-on-write in which a copy of the data is only made when it is necessary (i.e. when the data is modified). When returning a variable from a function, it is not modified between when it was created inside of the function and when it was stored in a different variable by the calling function. So in your case, you can think of the variable as being passed by reference. Once the data is modified, however, a copy will be made
You can check this behavior using format debug which will actually tell us the memory location of the data (detailed more in this post)
So if we modify your code slightly so that we print the memory location of each variable we can track when a copy is made
function main()
A = foo(10);
% Print the address of the variable A
fprintf('Address of A in calling function: %s\n', address(A));
% Modify A
B = A + 1;
% Print the address of the variable B
fprintf('Address of B in calling function: %s\n', address(B));
end
function result = foo(count)
result = zeros(count);
% Print the address of the variable inside of the function
fprintf('Address of result in foo: %s\n', address(result));
end
function loc = address(x)
% Store the current display format
fmt = get(0, 'format');
% Turn on debugging display and parse it
format debug
loc = regexp(evalc('disp(x)'), '(?<=pr\s*=\s*)[a-z0-9]*', 'match', 'once');
% Revert the display format to what it was
format(fmt);
end
And this yields the following (or similar) output
Address of result in foo: 7f96d9d591c0
Address of A in calling function: 7f96d9d591c0
Address of B in calling function: 7f96d9c74400
As a side-note, you don't need to explicitly use return in your case since the function will naturally return when it encounters the end. return is only necessary when you need to use it to alter the flow of your program and exit a function pre-maturely.
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'.
It is possible to use the function inputname to retrieve the workspace variable name passed in the call to the currently executing function. However, is there any equivalent function to obtain the name of the output arguments specified in the call to the currently executing function?
Imagine I have the following function:
function [a,b,c] = test(x)
disp([ouputname(1),ouputname(2),ouputname(3)])
end
When running this function:
[my,name,is] = test(x)
The expected result should be:
mynameis
Simply: no there isn't.
Complicated: Matlab code is "compiled" on run-time, and there is no way, that it knows [my,name,is] before it returns the result of test(x).
Workaround: if you want to ensure, that the strings used within the function are equal to the variables returned to the workspace, you can do the following using assignin:
function test(x, varnames)
a = 1;
outputname{1} = varnames{1};
assigin('base', outputname{1}, a)
...
c = 3;
outputname{3} = varnames{3};
assigin('base', outputname{3}, c)
disp([outputname{:}])
end
and call your function like:
text(x,{'my','name','is'})
and you will have exactly this variables in your workspace afterwards and your function output:
"mynameis"
I have a situation in MATLAB where I want to try to assign a struct field into a new variable, like this:
swimming = fish.carp;
BUT the field carp may or may not be defined. Is there a way to specify a default value in case carp is not a valid field? For example, in Perl I would write
my $swimming = $fish{carp} or my $swimming = 0;
where 0 is the default value and or specifies the action to be performed if the assignment fails. Seems like something similar should exist in MATLAB, but I can't seem to find any documentation of it. For the sake of code readability I'd rather not use an if statement or a try/catch block, if I can help it.
You can make your own function to handle this and keep the code rather clear. Something like:
swimming = get_struct(fish, 'carp', 0);
with
function v = get_struct(s, f, d)
if isfield(s, f)
v = s.(f); % Struct value
else
v = d; % Default value
end
Best,
From what I know, you can't do it in one line in MATLAB. MATLAB logical constructs require explicit if/else statements and can't do it in one line... like in Perl or Python.
What you can do is check to see if the fish structure contains the carp field. If it isn't, then you can set the default value to be 0.
Use isfield to help you do that. Therefore:
if isfield(fish, 'carp')
swimming = fish.carp;
else
swimming = 0;
end
Also, as what Ratbert said, you can put it into one line with commas... but again, you still need that if/else construct:
if isfield(fish,'carp'), swimming = fish.carp; else, swimming = 0;
Another possible workaround is to declare a custom function yourself that takes in a structure and a field, and allow it to return the value at the field, or 0.
function [out] = get_field(S, field)
if isfield(S, field)
out = S.(field);
else
out = 0;
end
Then, you can do this:
swimming = get_field(fish, 'carp');
swimming will either by 0, or fish.carp. This way, it doesn't sacrifice code readability, but you'll need to create a custom function to do what you want.
If you don't like to define a custom function in a separate function file - which is certainly a good option - you can define two anonymous functions at the beginning of your script instead.
helper = {#(s,f) 0, #(s,f) s.(f)}
getfieldOrDefault = #(s,f) helper{ isfield(s,f) + 1 }(s,f)
With the definition
fish.carp = 42
and the function calls
a = getfieldOrDefault(fish,'carp')
b = getfieldOrDefault(fish,'codfish')
you get for the first one
a = 42
and the previous defined default value for the second case
b = 0
I made global a variable in main m.file and used that variable in a function m.file and I had no problem. But, I wanna make global a variable in function m.file and use that variable in main m.file.
For this aim, I wrote:
function cost=MY_Fun(X)
global m
.
.
end
in function m.file, and wrote "global m" in main m.file. But, I get m=[]! How can I do that, so that the main m.file could correctly find the "m" value?
In the main script, if you are using m before the function call to MY_Fun, it would be empty. But after it, would have the value assigned inside MY_Fun. m would get the value from MY_Fun, only after the function gets called from the main script. The following codes might help you understand.
Main Script
global m
m_before_fun = m
cost1=MY_Fun(1);
m_after_fun = m
Function
function cost=MY_Fun(X)
%%// Declare m as a global variable
global m
%%// Assign some value to m
m = 10;
cost = 1;
return; %%// I prefer RETURN to END
Output
m_before_fun =
[]
m_after_fun =
10