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POHow to elegantly ignore some return values of a MATLAB function?
 

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  1. POHow to elegantly ignore some return values of a MATLAB function?
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    <p>Is it possible to get the 'nth' return value from a function without having to create dummy variables for all <code>n-1</code> return values before it?</p> <p>Let's say, I have the following function in MATLAB:</p> <pre><code>function [a,b,c,d] = func() a = 1; b = 2; c = 3; d = 4; </code></pre> <p>Now suppose, I'm only interested in the <em>third</em> return value. This can be accomplished by creating one dummy variable:</p> <pre><code>[dummy, dummy, variableThatIWillUse, dummy] = func; clear dummy; </code></pre> <p>But I think this is kind of <em>ugly</em>. I would think that you might be able to do something like one of the following things, but you can't:</p> <p><code>[_, _, variableThatIWillUse, _] = func;</code></p> <p><code>[, , variableThatIWillUse, ] = func;</code></p> <p><code>variableThatIWillUse = func(3);</code></p> <p><code>variableThatIWillUse = func()(3);</code></p> <p>Are there any <em>elegant</em> ways to do this that do work?</p> <hr> <p>So far, the best solution is to simply use the <code>variableThatIWillUse</code> as a dummy variable. This saves me from having to create a real dummy variable that pollutes the work-space (or that I would need to clear). In short: the solution is to use the <code>variableThatIWillUse</code> for every return value up until the interesting one. Return values after can simply be ignored:</p> <pre><code>[variableThatIWillUse, variableThatIWillUse, variableThatIWillUse] = func; </code></pre> <p>I still think this is very ugly code, but if there is no better way, then I guess I'll accept the answer.</p>
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    1. COAside from using a cell array as I described in my answer, repeating the variable name is probably your only other solution. Hopefully your variable names aren't as long as "variableThatIWillUse". =)
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    2. COActually they are. 'dummy' was just an example. Normally I would use 'variableThatIWillNotUse'. Other variables are named 'variableThatIMightUse', 'variableThatIWillUse2' and 'variableThatCanBarelyFitOnA80CharacterLine'. I'm researching the correlation between long names and homicide ratings. ;)
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    3. COActually since R2009b ignoring function returns is solved more elegantly using the '~'-Char. e.g.: [~,b] = sort(rand(10,1))
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