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