MATLAB: Variable number of outputs

cell arraymatlab functionoutputvariable

I want to build a matlab function with outputs whose number/length is variable. Below is my code, which somehow returns an error:
function varargout=polyargout(x)
if x==1
    nargout=1;
    varargout{1}=1;
elseif x==2
    nargout=2;
    for i=1:x
        varargout{i}=magic(i);
    end
end
Basically one doesn't know how many outputs to return until running the function. To call the function, I wish to use:
y=polyargout(1) to get y=1
y=polyargout(2) to get y=[magic(1),magic(2)]

Best Answer

It appears that you want to do something like this:
function out = polyargout(x)
if x>1
    out = arrayfun(@magic, 1:x, 'uniform', 0);
else
    out = 1;
end
end
And tested:
>> polyargout(1)
ans =  1
>> C = polyargout(3);
>> C{:}
ans =
   1
ans =
   4   3
   1   2
ans =
   8   1   6
   3   5   7
   4   9   2
As noted in my earlier comments, although you asked about "variable number of outputs", what you showed and requested is just one output (either a numeric array or a cell array of numeric arrays, depending on the value of x): "To call the function, I wish to use:"
y=polyargout(1) to get y=1
y=polyargout(2) to get y=[magic(1),magic(2)]
Related Question