nargin

Number of input arguments

Usage

nargin

• It returns the number of input arguments supplied by the user when a function is called.
• It has to be called within the function body.

nargin(name)

• It returns the maximum number of input arguments expected by the function named fname.
• It returns -1 if there can be unlimited number of input arguments.
• The .m file of the function fname should be located in the current work folder.

nargin(h)

• h is a function handle.
• It returns the maximum number of input arguments expected by the function associated with h.
• It returns -1 if there can be unlimited number of input arguments.

Examples

• User-defined function f is given below, which expects 0 - 3 input arguments. The user gives 2 inputs and hence nargin is 2.

Input

function [a,b] = f(c,d,e)
disp('Number of input given:')
nargin
a = c;
b = d;
end

Running f(1,2); gives the following output.

Output

Number of input given:

ans = 
 2.0000

• f is the function defined in the example above.

Input

nargin('f')

Output

ans =
3.000