Exit function early and return output

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I have a rather long function with a single output. In a special case, the output can be calculated without executing the majority of the function. Currently I use an if-statement to bypass the remaining code in the special case, but it feels clumsy to have an if-statment around lots of code. In C++, one could avoid the if-statement with two return statements; however the return function in MATLAB exits the function without returning the output variable. Is there a similar trick in MATLAB to avoid nesting the majority of my function in an if-statement? I know I could use another function to execute the else-statement, but that seems just as awkward.
% CURRENT CODE
function out = myfunc(a,b,c)
% Some calculations
if a == 1 % Special case
out = foo;
else
% Lots of calculations
out = bar;
end
end
% "IDEAL" CODE WHICH DOESN'T WORK
function out = myfunc(a,b,c)
% Some calculations
if a == 1 % Special case
return foo
end
% Lots of calculations
return bar
end

Accepted Answer

Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 24 Apr 2020
Assign the desired value to the output variable. Then use return
  1 Comment
Toder
Toder on 24 Apr 2020
Thanks, Walter. Much more elegant than a huge else statement!

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