MATLAB: How can i extract the value of an element of a sparse double

Question

if i have a sparse duble:

M = zeros(3);
M = sparse(M);
M(3,3) = 2;

and i want to get only the value of M(3,3) = 2, how do i do that?

if i type:

M(3,3)

i get:

ans =
   (1,1)        2

but i want to somheow get:

ans =
     2

converting to full matrix is not an option since the actual matrix is 50000 x 50000. thank you

Answer 1

full(M(3,3))