MATLAB: How to use a function

how to use a function

i have a function that convert numbers to arabic letters called " num2wordsarabe" it works good,but when i try to use it directly in "strrep" or any other function ,it does not work ,also i tried to pose x=num2wordsarabe(n) and use "x" in "strrep",it didnt work neither here is the exampl:
for i=1:length(str)
    if  (abs(str(i))>=48)&&(abs(str(i))<=57)
        n=str2double(str(i));
        num2wordsarabe(n);
        str=strrep(str,str(i),num2wordsarabe(n)); 
    end
  end
result on workspace:
[ ??? Error using ==> num2wordsarabe
Too many output arguments.
Error in ==> test at 15
                  str=strrep(str,str(i),num2wordsarabe(n));]
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Best Answer

Your understanding of the syntax of functions is a bit wrong. As per Sad's answer, if you want to use the result of a function, that function needs to output something. Therefore your function needs to be at least:
function x = num2wordsarabe(n)
And actually, since x does not mean anything, I'd rather use a variable name with more meaning, e.g:
function arabewords  = num2wordsarabe(n)
Within your function, you then of course need to assign some value to the output. Therefore, at some point(s) in the function you should have:
arabewords = ....; %replace the ... by some expression
Most likely, the ... is the output of these hundredarabe, tensarabe and unitsarabe functions whose results you don't do anything with. E.g.:
arabewords = sprintf('%s %s %s', hundredarabe(z), unitsarabe(x), tensarabe(y,x));
%and so on for the other else and if
Possibly, these other function also don't have declared output in them, so you would have to modify them as well the same. e.g:
function hundredword = hundredarabe(digit)
    ...
    hundredword = ...;
end
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