MATLAB Programming

3 Basic Program Components
Dynamic Structure Fields
Sometimes it is useful to reference structures with field names that can
vary. For example, the referenced field might be passed as an argument to a
function. Dynamic field names specify a variable name for a structure field.
The variable fundtype shown here is a dynamic field name:
type = funds(5,2).(fundtype);
See “Using Dynamic Field Names” on page 2-81 for more information.
Exclamation Point — !
The exclamation point precedes operating system commands that you want to
execute from within MATLAB.
Shell Escape
The exclamation point initiates a shell escape function. Such a function is to
be performed directly by the operating system:
!rmdir oldtests
See “Shell Escape Functions” on page 3-29 for more information.
Parentheses — ( )
Parentheses are used mostly for indexing into elements of an array or for
specifying arguments passed to a called function.
Array Indexing
When parentheses appear to the right of a variable name, they are indices
into the array stored in that variable:
A(2, 7, 4)
3-104