MATLAB: Function output name unused

output name

I specified a function whose output is named 'finalOutputs', every time I run the function, it populates an output without the name but 'ans'. When I debug it line by line, it works well and returns the output in 'finalOutputs' matrix, but once I exit debugger, another matrix 'ans' appeared. Why does this happened? I'm new to Matlab and really confused about it.

function [finalOutputs] = func(input1, input2,...)

Best Answer

When you execute the function, the local variable finalOutputs will get assigned to. However, that does not affect any variables in the workspace of the caller of the function. The calling function needs to deliberately assign the output to some variable (which might have a completely different name.)

MATLAB function inputs and outputs are handled positionally not by name.

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MATLAB: How to call to function from other function

You need to save both the function files in the same folder and yes call the other function in the required function. It is very simple. Check the below example.

function val = thesum(a,b)
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Now call the above function inisde another function.

function val = theproduct(a,b)
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MATLAB: Function returning ans instead of three outputs

You need to call the function with three output arguments, e.g.:

inp = [...]; % your input array
[RR,GG,BB] = MostDistantPixel(inp)

Useful basic MATLAB concepts, such as how to call functions with multiple input/output arguments, are explained in the introductory tutorials:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/getting-started-with-matlab.html

Note that if a function that returns an output and it is called without any outputs being allocated to a variable, then its first output will be assigned to the default variable ans:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/ans.html

It is recommended to avoid referring to ans in code: it is recommended to always define your own output variables.

PS: You will probably also want to suppress the displaying of R, G, and B using semi-colons.

Best Answer

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