How to get the type of a variable in MATLAB

Question

Does MATLAB have a function operator that indicates the type of a variable  similar to the typeof operator in JavaScript

User · Accepted Answer

Use the class function   gt  gt  b   2 b        2  gt  gt  a    Hi  a   Hi  gt  gt  class b  ans   double  gt  gt  class a  ans   char

User · Answer

Another related function is whos  It will list all sorts of information  dimensions  byte size  type  for the variables in a given workspace    gt  gt  a    0 0 7    gt  gt  whos a   Name      Size            Bytes  Class     Attributes    a         1x3                24  double                 gt  gt  b    James Bond    gt  gt  whos b   Name      Size            Bytes  Class    Attributes    b         1x10               20  char

User · Answer

class   function is the equivalent of typeof    You can also use isa   to check if a variable is of a particular type  If you want to be even more specific  you can use ischar    isfloat    iscell    etc

User · Answer

Since nobody mentioned it  MATLAB also has the metaclass function  which returns an object with various bits of information about the passed-in entity  These meta class objects can be useful for tests of inheritance  via common comparison operators    For example    gt  gt  metaclass magic 1    ans       class with properties                        Name   double                Description           DetailedDescription                        Hidden  0                    Sealed  0                  Abstract  0               Enumeration  0           ConstructOnLoad  0          HandleCompatible  0           InferiorClasses   0  1 cell          ContainingPackage   0  0 meta package       RestrictsSubclassing  0              PropertyList   0  1 meta property                 MethodList   272  1 meta method                  EventList   0  1 meta event      EnumerationMemberList   0  1 meta EnumeratedValue             SuperclassList   0  1 meta class    gt  gt   containers Map  lt    handle  ans      logical     1   We can see that class someObj  is equivalent to the Name field of the result of metaclass someObj

User · Answer

MATLAB - Checking type of variables     class   exactly works like Javascript s typeof operator       To get more details about variables you can use whos command or whos   function    Here is the example code executed on MATLAB R2017a s Command Window    gt  gt    Define a number  gt  gt  num   67  num        67   gt  gt    Get type of variable num  gt  gt  class num   ans         double    gt  gt    Define character vector  gt  gt  myName    Rishikesh Agrawani   myName         Rishikesh Agrwani    gt  gt    Check type of myName  gt  gt  class myName   ans         char    gt  gt    Define a cell array  gt  gt  cellArr     This     is     a     big chance to learn     MATLAB       Cell array  gt  gt    gt  gt  class cellArr   ans         cell    gt  gt    Get more details including type  gt  gt  whos num   Name      Size            Bytes  Class     Attributes    num       1x1                 8  double                 gt  gt  whos myName   Name        Size            Bytes  Class    Attributes    myName      1x17               34  char                  gt  gt  whos cellArr   Name         Size            Bytes  Class    Attributes    cellArr      1x5               634  cell                  gt  gt    Another way to use whos i e using whos char vector   gt  gt  whos  cellArr     Name         Size            Bytes  Class    Attributes    cellArr      1x5               634  cell                  gt  gt  whos  num     Name      Size            Bytes  Class     Attributes    num       1x1                 8  double                 gt  gt  whos  myName     Name        Size            Bytes  Class    Attributes    myName      1x17               34  char                  gt  gt

User · Answer

Be careful when using the isa function  This will be true if your object is of the specified type or one of its subclasses  You have to use strcmp with the class function to test if the object is specifically that type and not a subclass

[matlab] How to get the type of a variable in MATLAB?

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