Nested functions don't recognize input

Question

Here's a minimal example of my problem:

innerFunc([2, 4, 5]) % works fine
outerFunc(innerFunc, [2, 4, 5]) % doesn't work

function out = innerFunc(my_vec) 
    my_vec % not recogniced when called from outerFunc
    out = -1;
end

function out = outerFunc(func, my_vec) 
    out = func(my_vec);
end

This is the output of the code:


my_vec =

     2     4     5


ans =

    -1

Not enough input arguments.

Error in nested_funcs_bug>innerFunc (line 5)
    my_vec % not recogniced when called from outerFunc

Error in nested_funcs_bug (line 2)
outerFunc(innerFunc, [2, 4, 5]) % doesn't work

>>

I don't know why the eror in line 2?

Especially since "innerFunc" usually works and I pass it an input in the outerFunc function.

FYI That’s not a nested function. In MATLAB, the term “nested function” has a specific meaning: a function defined inside the body of another function, where it has access to the parent’s variables. — Cris Luengo
– Cris Luengo, Commented Jan 14 at 0:54

Luis Mendo · Accepted Answer · 2025-01-13 16:29:33Z

5

It seems that in

outerFunc(innerFunc, [2, 4, 5]) % doesn't work

you intend to pass innerFunc as an input to outerFunc. However, what that line does is call innerFunc (which gives an error because the input to that function is missing); and the output of that function call would then be used as input to outerFunc.

To pass (a handle of) innerFunc as an input to outerFunc you need to prepend @ (more information here):

outerFunc(@innerFunc, [2, 4, 5])

edited Jan 13 at 16:29

answered Jan 13 at 16:24

Luis Mendo

113k13 gold badges80 silver badges154 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Nested functions don't recognize input

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related