User`s guide

Script Files

In this section...

“Converting S cript M-Files to Function M-Files” on page 5-19

“Including Script Files in Deployed Applications” on page 5-20

Converting Script M-Files to Function M-Files

MATLAB provides two ways to package sequences of MATLAB commands:

• Function M-files

• Script M-files

These tw o categories of M-files differ in three important respects:

• You can pass argum ents to function M-files, but not to script M-files.

• Variables used inside function M-files are local to that function; you cannot

access these variables from the MATLAB interpreter’s workspace unless

they are passed back by the function. By contrast, variables u sed inside

script M-files are shared with the caller’s workspace; you can access these

variables from the MATLAB interpreter command line.

• Variables that are declared as persistent in a MEX-file m ay not retain their

values through multiple calls from MATLAB.

MATLAB Compiler cannot compile scri pt M-files, however, it can compile

function M-files that call scripts. You cannot specify a script M-file explicitly

on the

mcc command line, but you can specify function M-files that include

scripts themselves.

Converting a script into a function is usually fairly simple. To convert a script

to a function, simply add a

function line at the top of the M-file.

Forexample,considerthescriptM-file

houdini.m:

m = magic(4); % Assign 4x4 magic square to m.

t = m .^ 3; % C ube each element of m.

disp(t); % Display the value of t.

5-19