determining number of matrices passed to function

[Evan Cooch]

Considering switching over from MATLAB to Octave, and while most of my 
m-files are porting fairly seamlessly, there is one thing that is causing 
some problems.

I make fairly frequent use of what MATLAB knows as 'cell arrays'. For 
example, suppose I have 2 matrices: A and B. I can put them into a cell 
array (called MAT) using

MAT={A;B};

I can then pass MAT to a function, where I can use the length command to 
determine the number of matrices in the cell array. In this example, 
length(MAT) yields 2.

However, this doesn't seem to work in Octave. If I try

MAT={A;B},

and then length(MAT), I get -1 -1 returned.

Hmmm...strange.

Any suggestions? I often pass sets of matrices to functions, and need to be 
able to have the function count the number of arrays being passed. The 
length command in MATLAB applied to a cell array works perfectly for this 
task - equivalent in Octave?

Thanks in advance...


----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Evan Cooch                          e.mail: address@hidden
 Department of Natural Resources     voice: 607-255-1368
 Fernow Hall - Cornell University    FAX: 607-255-8837
 Ithaca, NY    14853                 http://canuck.dnr.cornell.edu
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anymore because its too crowded'.



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