MATLAB: How can I edit a matrix and rename it at the same time

change matrixmatrixmatrix manipulationrenamerename matrix

I start with a random matrix and edit the 8th column to new numbers and then rename it. what I thought was this:
my_matrix = rand(4,9)
my_matrix(:,8) = [2;4;6;1]
edited_matrix = my_matrix
however, I want to rename and edit the matrix in one go so at the end of the script, I have two matrices…
Almost like this (but this doesnt work)
my_matrix = rand(4,9)
edited_matrix = [my_matrix(:,8) = [2;4;6;1]]
so at the end I have two variables, my_matrix and edited_matrix that are different and can be reffered to separately

Best Answer

Sorry, you're better off doing it in two lines. You want to copy the matrix into the new variable before changing it so:
edited_matrix = my_matrix;
edited_matrix(:, 8) = [2 4 6 1];
If you really want to do it in just one line, you could do:
edited_matrix = [my_matrix(:, 1:7), [2;4;6;1], my_matrix(:, 9:end)];
but it's actually less readable and probably slower to execute.
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