is there a linux equivalent of cell arrays? (to input into MatLab functions?)

Right now I have a MatLab function that calls 6 other functions in SPM:

addpath 'C:\Users\APK-User\Documents\spm12'
function dothejob_NASA (subjID, timepoint)
for i=1:length(subjID)
  for j=1:length(timepoint)
      sliceTiming_01_NASA(subjID{i},timepoint{j})
      realignReslice_02_NASA(subjID{i},timepoint{j})
      coregister_03_NASA(subjID{i},timepoint{j})
      segment_04_NASA(subjID{i},timepoint{j})
      normalize_05_NASA(subjID{i},timepoint{j})
      smooth_06_NASA(subjID{i},timepoint{j})
  end
end

In MatLab, if I enter the subjID and timepoints in within { }, then this function runs perfectly and calls the other SPM functions:

%Enter subjects and time points:  
subjID = {'1261'};
timepoint = {'05','06'};
dothejob_NASA (subjID, timepoint)

However, I would like to be able to run this function on bash... e.g., in my Mac terminal, I would like to be able to write something like:

subjID = {'1261'};
timepoint = {'05','06'};
matlab -nodesktop -nosplash -r dothejobNASA subjID timepoint

This is so that I could run this function on Mac terminal (and on a high performance computing cluster) with many subjects and timepoints in the future without going back into MatLab to edit the subjID and timepoints.

I know that I can't write exactly subjID = {'1261'}; in Mac terminal, but is there something similar that I could substitute to feed into this function? (or would I need a totally different approach?)

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

subjID = "{'1261'}"
timepoint = "{'05','06'}"
matlab -nodesktop -nosplash -r "dothejobNASA($subjID, $timepoint)"

Or, better,

matlab -nodesktop -nosplash -r "try; dothejobNASA($subjID, $timepoint); catch; end; quit"

[Kathleen Hupfeld]

Fantastic, thank you so much! One note, it only worked for me in linux without the spaces on either side of the equal signs; e.g., subjID="{'1261'}"