implementing huffmandeco without using the inbuilt function

Basically I am trying to write the source code behind MATLAB's inbuilt function huffmandeco. This is what I have:

function dsig = myhuffmandeco(c,dict) % comp must be a numeric vector (row or col)

dsig = []; 
[~, n] = size(c);
dictSize = size(dict,1);

function [tmpCodeSize,symbol] = getSymbol(code)
symbol=[];

%iterate through dictionary
for j = 1:dictSize
    tmpCode = cell2mat(dict(j,2)); %tmpCode will contain the encoded words of the dictionary's (which is a cellArray) 2nd column
    tmpCodeSize = size(tmpCode, 2);
    codeSize = size(code, 2); %code is the current word in vector c I'm trying to decode
    if tmpCodeSize > codeSize
        break;
    end
    if isequal(codeSize,tmpCodeSize) && isequal(tmpCode,code)
        symbol = cell2mat(dict(j,1)); %'symbol' will take the value of the dictionary's symbol that corresponds to the 'code' 
        break;
    end
end
end

beginning = 1;
ending = 1;

while ending < n
   [tmpCodeSize,symbol] = getSymbol(c(beginning:ending));
  
    dsig =[dsig symbol];
    
    if ending ~= n
        beginning = ending;
        ending = ending + tmpCodeSize;
    end
end

end

Unfortunately, I get nothing as an output. I really can't tell if the problem lies in one of my iterations or the printing of it.. Any help is appreciated!