why does size() not work in function but does in workspace

I have a the same 4x2 cell array (fileList), in workspace, size() gives me the results I expect, but in a function results are way different.

Workspace

 size(fileList), ans=4 2

 size(fileList{2,1},1), ans = 9

function

 size(fileList), ans=1 1

 size(fileList{2,1},1), ans = Index exceeds matrix dimensions.

Other functions that don't behave as expected when not in workspace:

 fileList{n,m}

 fileList(n,:)

[Guillaume]

Can we see the declaration of the function (the line that says function something = funname(something)) and the way you call the function?

[SteveH]

workspace

fileList= <4x2 cell>
readvars ={filelist,xdim,ydim,bitdepth,skip_bytes,pad_bytes,cntr};
imageList=readRaw (readvars);
function  imageList = ReadRaw (readVars)
tfileList    = readVars(1);  .........

the function recognizes tfileList as a 4x2 cell

Answer 1

[Guillaume]

You need to understand the difference between () and {} when applied to cell array. () returns a portion of a cell array as a cell array. {} returns the content of the cell array.

So, readvars(1) is a 1x1 cell array which is just the readvars cell array trimmed to 1 element

readvars{1} is the first element of the cell array.

Therefore, change the first line of your function to

tfilelist = readVars{1};

and all shall be well.

[SteveH]

Thanks to valdal: I could see passing cell array like in his example worked, so it had to be..... Thanks to Guillaume: I trip over those darn ({[]}) too often.

ALL IS WELL!

Answer 2

[valdal]

Hi,

On my computer, I don't have any problem :

fileList = cell(4,2)
fileList{2,1} = rand(9,1)

size(fileList)
size(fileList{2,1},1)

f(fileList)

with f.m :

function f(a)

size(a)

size(a{2,1},1)

end

In both cases I got :

ans =

       4     2

ans =

       9

Are you sure that you give the whole cell array to your function ? It's look like in the function fileList is only one element.