<html lang="en"> <head> <title>Mex-Files - GNU Octave</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> <meta name="description" content="GNU Octave"> <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> <link rel="up" href="Dynamically-Linked-Functions.html#Dynamically-Linked-Functions" title="Dynamically Linked Functions"> <link rel="prev" href="Oct_002dFiles.html#Oct_002dFiles" title="Oct-Files"> <link rel="next" href="Standalone-Programs.html#Standalone-Programs" title="Standalone Programs"> <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <style type="text/css"><!-- pre.display { font-family:inherit } pre.format { font-family:inherit } pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } --></style> </head> <body> <div class="node"> <a name="Mex-Files"></a> <a name="Mex_002dFiles"></a> <p> Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Standalone-Programs.html#Standalone-Programs">Standalone Programs</a>, Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Oct_002dFiles.html#Oct_002dFiles">Oct-Files</a>, Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Dynamically-Linked-Functions.html#Dynamically-Linked-Functions">Dynamically Linked Functions</a> <hr> </div> <h3 class="section">A.2 Mex-Files</h3> <p><a name="index-mex_002dfiles-3370"></a><a name="index-mex-3371"></a> Octave includes an interface to allow legacy mex-files to be compiled and used with Octave. This interface can also be used to share code between Octave and <span class="sc">matlab</span> users. However, as mex-files expose the <span class="sc">matlab</span>'s internal API, and the internal structure of Octave is different, a mex-file can never have the same performance in Octave as the equivalent oct-file. In particular to support the manner in which mex-files access the variables passed to mex functions, there are a significant number of additional copies of memory when calling or returning from a mex function. For this reason, new code should be written using the oct-file interface discussed above if possible. <ul class="menu"> <li><a accesskey="1" href="Getting-Started-with-Mex_002dFiles.html#Getting-Started-with-Mex_002dFiles">Getting Started with Mex-Files</a> <li><a accesskey="2" href="Working-with-Matrices-and-Arrays-in-Mex_002dFiles.html#Working-with-Matrices-and-Arrays-in-Mex_002dFiles">Working with Matrices and Arrays in Mex-Files</a> <li><a accesskey="3" href="Character-Strings-in-Mex_002dFiles.html#Character-Strings-in-Mex_002dFiles">Character Strings in Mex-Files</a> <li><a accesskey="4" href="Cell-Arrays-with-Mex_002dFiles.html#Cell-Arrays-with-Mex_002dFiles">Cell Arrays with Mex-Files</a> <li><a accesskey="5" href="Structures-with-Mex_002dFiles.html#Structures-with-Mex_002dFiles">Structures with Mex-Files</a> <li><a accesskey="6" href="Sparse-Matrices-with-Mex_002dFiles.html#Sparse-Matrices-with-Mex_002dFiles">Sparse Matrices with Mex-Files</a> <li><a accesskey="7" href="Calling-Other-Functions-in-Mex_002dFiles.html#Calling-Other-Functions-in-Mex_002dFiles">Calling Other Functions in Mex-Files</a> <!-- * Application Programming Interface for Mex-Files:: --> </ul> </body></html>