<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.5, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Function Handles (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))</title> <meta name="description" content="Function Handles (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="keywords" content="Function Handles (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <meta name="distribution" content="global"> <meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo"> <link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top"> <link href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" rel="index" title="Concept Index"> <link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> <link href="Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions.html#Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions" rel="up" title="Function Handles Anonymous Functions Inline Functions"> <link href="Anonymous-Functions.html#Anonymous-Functions" rel="next" title="Anonymous Functions"> <link href="Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions.html#Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions" rel="prev" title="Function Handles Anonymous Functions Inline Functions"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em} blockquote.smallindentedblock {margin-right: 0em; font-size: smaller} blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em} kbd {font-style: oblique} pre.display {font-family: inherit} pre.format {font-family: inherit} pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap} span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal} span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal} ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} --> </style> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="octave.css"> </head> <body lang="en"> <a name="Function-Handles"></a> <div class="header"> <p> Next: <a href="Anonymous-Functions.html#Anonymous-Functions" accesskey="n" rel="next">Anonymous Functions</a>, Up: <a href="Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions.html#Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions" accesskey="u" rel="up">Function Handles Anonymous Functions Inline Functions</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> <hr> <a name="Function-Handles-1"></a> <h4 class="subsection">11.11.1 Function Handles</h4> <p>A function handle is a pointer to another function and is defined with the syntax </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">@<var>function-name</var> </pre></div> <p>For example, </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">f = @sin; </pre></div> <p>creates a function handle called <code>f</code> that refers to the function <code>sin</code>. </p> <p>Function handles are used to call other functions indirectly, or to pass a function as an argument to another function like <code>quad</code> or <code>fsolve</code>. For example: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">f = @sin; quad (f, 0, pi) ⇒ 2 </pre></div> <p>You may use <code>feval</code> to call a function using function handle, or simply write the name of the function handle followed by an argument list. If there are no arguments, you must use an empty argument list ‘<samp>()</samp>’. For example: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">f = @sin; feval (f, pi/4) ⇒ 0.70711 f (pi/4) ⇒ 0.70711 </pre></div> <a name="XREFis_005ffunction_005fhandle"></a><dl> <dt><a name="index-is_005ffunction_005fhandle"></a><em></em> <strong>is_function_handle</strong> <em>(<var>x</var>)</em></dt> <dd><p>Return true if <var>x</var> is a function handle. </p> <p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="Built_002din-Data-Types.html#XREFisa">isa</a>, <a href="Data-Types.html#XREFtypeinfo">typeinfo</a>, <a href="Built_002din-Data-Types.html#XREFclass">class</a>, <a href="#XREFfunctions">functions</a>. </p></dd></dl> <a name="XREFfunctions"></a><dl> <dt><a name="index-functions"></a><em><var>s</var> =</em> <strong>functions</strong> <em>(<var>fcn_handle</var>)</em></dt> <dd><p>Return a structure containing information about the function handle <var>fcn_handle</var>. </p> <p>The structure <var>s</var> always contains these three fields: </p> <dl compact="compact"> <dt>function</dt> <dd><p>The function name. For an anonymous function (no name) this will be the actual function definition. </p> </dd> <dt>type</dt> <dd><p>Type of the function. </p> <dl compact="compact"> <dt>anonymous</dt> <dd><p>The function is anonymous. </p> </dd> <dt>private</dt> <dd><p>The function is private. </p> </dd> <dt>overloaded</dt> <dd><p>The function overloads an existing function. </p> </dd> <dt>simple</dt> <dd><p>The function is a built-in or m-file function. </p> </dd> <dt>subfunction</dt> <dd><p>The function is a subfunction within an m-file. </p></dd> </dl> </dd> <dt>file</dt> <dd><p>The m-file that will be called to perform the function. This field is empty for anonymous and built-in functions. </p></dd> </dl> <p>In addition, some function types may return more information in additional fields. </p> <p><strong>Warning:</strong> <code>functions</code> is provided for debugging purposes only. Its behavior may change in the future and programs should not depend on any particular output format. </p> <p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFfunc2str">func2str</a>, <a href="#XREFstr2func">str2func</a>. </p></dd></dl> <a name="XREFfunc2str"></a><dl> <dt><a name="index-func2str"></a><em></em> <strong>func2str</strong> <em>(<var>fcn_handle</var>)</em></dt> <dd><p>Return a string containing the name of the function referenced by the function handle <var>fcn_handle</var>. </p> <p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFstr2func">str2func</a>, <a href="#XREFfunctions">functions</a>. </p></dd></dl> <a name="XREFstr2func"></a><dl> <dt><a name="index-str2func"></a><em></em> <strong>str2func</strong> <em>(<var>fcn_name</var>)</em></dt> <dd><p>Return a function handle constructed from the string <var>fcn_name</var>. </p> <p>Previous versions of Octave accepted an optional second argument, <code>"global"</code>, that caused str2func to ignore locally visible functions. This option is no longer supported. </p> <p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFfunc2str">func2str</a>, <a href="Inline-Functions.html#XREFinline">inline</a>, <a href="#XREFfunctions">functions</a>. </p></dd></dl> <hr> <div class="header"> <p> Next: <a href="Anonymous-Functions.html#Anonymous-Functions" accesskey="n" rel="next">Anonymous Functions</a>, Up: <a href="Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions.html#Function-Handles-Anonymous-Functions-Inline-Functions" accesskey="u" rel="up">Function Handles Anonymous Functions Inline Functions</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> </body> </html>