MATLAB Function Reference

for

Execute block of code specified number of times

Syntax

• for variable = expression
      statements 
  end
  

Description

The general format is

• for variable = expression
      statement
      ...
      statement
  end
  

The columns of the expression are stored one at a time in the variable while the following statements, up to the end, are executed.

In practice, the expression is almost always of the form scalar : scalar, in which case its columns are simply scalars.

The scope of the for statement is always terminated with a matching end.

Examples

Assume k has already been assigned a value. Create the Hilbert matrix, using zeros to preallocate the matrix to conserve memory:

• a = zeros(k,k)  % Preallocate matrix
  for m = 1:k
      for n = 1:k
          a(m,n) = 1/(m+n -1);
      end
  end
  

Step s with increments of -0.1

• for s = 1.0: -0.1: 0.0,..., end
  

Successively set e to the unit n-vectors:

• for e = eye(n),..., end
  

The line

• for V = A,..., end
  

has the same effect as

• for k = 1:n, V = A(:,k);..., end
  

except k is also set here.

See Also

end, while, break, continue, return, if, switch, colon

fopen

format

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