How to subtract from a vector array and, if the answer is lees than 0, have it return a value of 0

I'm trying to subtract a number from a specific value in a vector. Then, if the answer is less than 0, I want it to return the answer with it being rounded to 0.

this is what I meam

%example%
x = [1 2 3]
x(1)-2
%the result would look like this%
x = 
 -1 2 3
 %but I want it to look like this%
 x =
  0 2 3

How do I do this without using conditionals?

Answer 1

[David Hill]

x=[1 2 3];
x=x-2;
x(x<0)=0;

[Brett Baxter]

Thank you, but now I need the function to tell me by how much it goes under if and when it does. I essentially need to write a function like this:

x=[1, 2 3]
y= 2
x(1) - y
if x(1)<0
    totalsubtracted = y +x(1)
else
    totalsubtracted = x(1)-y
end

But without conditionals. How do I do this?

[David Hill]

x=[1 2 3];
amountbelowzero=zeros(size(x));
x=x-2;
amountbelowzero(x<0)=abs(x(x<0));
x(x<0)=0;

Answer 2

[John D'Errico]

Simple. No need to test anything either. Just use the max function.

x = [1 2 3];
x(1) = max(x(1) - 2,0);

x
x =
     0     2     3