Advanced Computers: MATLAB Lecture 7: Flow Control
1. Flow of Script Execution
Script consisted of a sequence of commands that starts at the first line and continues
line by line until it reaches the end.
Within a command line, the flow of execution, start from left to right.
Adding intelligence to scripts, when allow to control the flow of commands execution
based on decision making structures, so it can:
Execute different commands.
Execute commands many times.
2. if Structure
The if structure controls the execution flow towards the appropriate commands after
the Boolean expression is validated
The general syntax of if structure is:
𝑖𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛_𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠
𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛_𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠
𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒
𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠
𝑒𝑛𝑑
The 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛_𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 has one value of two possible values: true or false.
The 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛_𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 in elseif block will only be checked if 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛_𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 in
if block is false.
A 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛_𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 is true when its result is nonempty and contains only nonzero
elements (logical or real numeric). Otherwise, the expression is false.
The blocks of elseif and else are optional.
For example, an if structure without elseif nor else blocks,
𝑖𝑓 (𝑎 >= 10) & (𝑏 <= 10) % 𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑠
w = 𝑎^𝑏 ∗ b/a
𝑒𝑛𝑑
For example, an if structure with else block, but without elseif blocks,
𝑖𝑓 𝑥 > 10 % 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟
𝑦 = 2 ∗ 𝑥 + 5
𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒
𝑦 = 𝑥^2 / 5
𝑒𝑛𝑑
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Advanced Computers: MATLAB Lecture 7: Flow Control
For example, an if structure with elseif block, but without else,
𝑖𝑓 𝑥 > 10 % 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟
𝑦 = 2+𝑥/5
𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑥 > 5
𝑦 = 2∗𝑥/5
𝑒𝑛𝑑
Furthermore, an if structure can have more than one elseif block.
Therefore, the if structure can be used in many different possible forms:
𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑛𝑑
𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 … 𝑒𝑛𝑑
𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑛𝑑
𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 … 𝑒𝑛𝑑
𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑛𝑑
𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑓 … 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 … 𝑒𝑛𝑑
3. for Structure
The for structure executes commands a predetermined number of times.
The general syntax of for structure is:
𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 = 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 ∶ 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∶ 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡
𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠
𝑒𝑛𝑑
The values of start, increment, and last can be positive or negative values.
On each iteration, index is incremented, or is decremented, by the value increment.
For positive increment, execution terminates when the value of the index exceeds the
last value;
For example,
𝑠 = 0
𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡 = 1: 3: 16
𝑠 =𝑠+𝑡∗8
𝑒𝑛𝑑
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Advanced Computers: MATLAB Lecture 7: Flow Control
The default increment is 1.
For example,
𝑥 = 1: 15
𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖 = 2: 6 % 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 1.
𝑦(𝑖) = 2 ∗ 𝑥(𝑖) + 5
𝑒𝑛𝑑
For negative increment, execution terminates when the index is less than the last value.
For example,
𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑘 = 5: −1: 2
𝑚(𝑘) = 𝑘;
𝑒𝑛𝑑
Practical Examples
Script 7.1. Write a script for computing the following equations of 𝑦 when 𝑥 = 20, 8, 1, or
154.
𝑥
− 4 ; 100 ≤ 𝑥
100
𝑥
+ 4 ; 10 < 𝑥 < 100
10
𝑦= 𝑥
× 4 ; 5 < 𝑥 ≤ 10
5
𝑥2
{ 5 − 4 ; 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
Script:
𝑥 = 20
𝑖𝑓 𝑥 > 100
𝑦 = 𝑥 / 100 − 4
𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑥 > 10
𝑦 = 4 + 𝑥 / 10
𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑥 > 5
𝑦 = 4∗𝑥/5
𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒
𝑦 = 𝑥^2 / 5 − 4
𝑒𝑛𝑑
Rerun:
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Advanced Computers: MATLAB Lecture 7: Flow Control
𝑥 = 8
𝑥 = 1
𝑥 = 154
Script 7.2. Write a script for computing 𝑦 = 2𝑥 + 3 for 𝑥 = 1. .15 .
Script:
𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑥 = 1: 15
𝑦 =2∗𝑥+3
𝑒𝑛𝑑
Script 7.3. Let a vector 𝑥 of values −10 . . 5. Write a script for computing the values of vector
𝑦 where 𝑦𝑖 = 2𝑥𝑖 + 3 for 𝑖 = 1. .15 .
Script:
𝑥 = −10: 5
𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑘 = 1: 15
𝑦(𝑘) = 2 ∗ 𝑥(𝑘) + 3;
𝑒𝑛𝑑
𝑦
