MATLAB: Must I add this line at the start of the function for it to return correctly

functionrecursionreturn

I have written this recursive function to determine if a string of text is a palindrome:
function [ palindromic ] = isPalindrome( string )
    % base case #1
    if length(string) < 1
        palindromic = 1;
        return;
    end
    % base case #2
    if string(1) ~= string(length(string))
        palindromic = 0;
        return;
    end
    % recursive call
    isPalindrome(string(2:length(string)-1));
 end
When I pass it the string 'motor', it returns a 0 as it should because that string is not a palindrome. However, when I pass it the string 'rotor', the function returns nothing.
I was able to get the function to behave properly by adding the line
palindromic = 1;
to the start of the function, but I don't understand why this should make any difference.
Ideas?

Best Answer

In your recursive call to isPalindrome, you didn't return the value of isPalindromic.
Substitute this line
palindromic = isPalindrome(string(2:length(string)-1));
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