Did you ever see '~' symbol at return value of function?

There is a function as follow

: function [y z] = func_add_minus(a, b)

And 'func_add_minus' is called as follow

[~, zz] = func_add_minus(1,2)

I have naver seen this receive format. I don't know how can I understand '~' symbol.

Did you ever see '~' symbol at return value of function?

Answer 1

[Wayne King]

~ means to suppress an output argument.

so

[~,zz] = func_add_minus(1,2);

means that you only want to return the 2nd output argument, zz, and not y in this case.

Answer 2

[Jan]

The ~ works since R2009b. An equivalent for former versions:

[dummy, zz] = func_add_minus(1,2);
clear('dummy');  % Useful if dummy occupies a lot of memory

[Andrei Bobrov]

or

[zz, zz] = func_add_minus(1,2);

[Jan]

As usual I explain, that I still have to think twice, if the final value of z is the first or the last output.

Answer 3

[Kim Eun Hyouek]

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the answere you’ve gave to me. Thanks a lot

[Oleg Komarov]

Please accept an answer.