unpack

Unpack list to variables

Description

Many languages allow list unpack as:
a,b,c=1,2,'w'

This cannot be done in matlab and can avoid many lines of code. This file makes it possible.

Examples:
[a,b,c,d]=unpack(1,2,3,'hello');
[a,b,c]=unpack([1,2,3]);
[a,b,c,d]=unpack({1,2,3,'hello'});

(I suppose this works in any matlab release)

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 6.5 (R13)

[urs (us) schwarz]

could be a nice snippet...
however, idiosyncratic behavior - or insufficient help, rather - prevents it from becoming a 5-star contender, yet
% 1) this works as expected/advertised
     [a,b,c,d]=unpack({1,2,3,4})
% ans = 4 double values
% 2) this does not and yields an error
     [a,b,c,d]=unpack({1,2},{3,4})
% -and- the syntax now must be
     [a,b]=unpack({1,2},{3,4})
% ans = 2 cells
% which is not immediately clear from the
% help section

furthermore, a pointer to DEAL should be included...

us

[Jos x@y.z]

I fail to see the advantage over DEAL ...

[a,b,c,d] = deal(1,2,3,'hello')
A = {1,'xx',zeros(3)}
[x,y,z] = deal(A{:})

or am I missing something