How to NOT share variable with nested function?

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Hello,
I made a big code in a separate m.file, this code includes functions. I then want to make a function out of this big code, but, by doig so, i create nested functions and, as those function share the sames variable names, nothing is working properly anymore.
Is there a way to precise that the nested function inside a function should not share variables with the main function and with each other?
Thank you for your help!
  2 Comments
Stephen23
Stephen23 on 12 Aug 2021
Edited: Stephen23 on 12 Aug 2021
@Thomas Fournier: By definition, the scope of nested functions includes all variables from their parent function/s:
If you need to use nested functions, then you will need to rename those variables.
But I suspect (due to that the code originally worked "in a separate m.file") that you do not need nested functions at all, and you can probably simply define them as local functions together with one main function at the start of the file, thus trivially avoiding the whole problem:

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Accepted Answer

Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 12 Aug 2021
You took a script that was of the form
some code
function first
%something
end
function second
something
end
and you converted it to a function by putting a function line at the beginning and an end at the end of it, like
function do_stuff
some code
function first
%something
end
function second
something
end
end
What you should have done instead is
function do_stuff
some code
end %end HERE, not at bottom
function first
%something
end
function second
something
end

More Answers (2)

darova
darova on 11 Aug 2021
Edited: darova on 11 Aug 2021
If you declare function or variable inside nested function it rewrites itself. There is no option for mistake
function main
a = 2;
b = 3;
a + b
function nest1
a = 5;
a + b
end
a + b
end
  4 Comments
Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 12 Aug 2021
The line
a = 5;
does not make a into a local variable inside the nested function: instead it writes to the shared variable.
Stephen23
Stephen23 on 12 Aug 2021
Edited: Stephen23 on 12 Aug 2021
"But why a value in main is changed?"
Shared variables are explained in the MATLAB documentation:

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Jeff Miller
Jeff Miller on 11 Aug 2021
It sounds like your "big code" is a script rather than a function, but now you want to make a function out of it.
I suggest you remove the functions from the "big code" script and put them in separate files. Then make "big code" into a function, but these other functions will no longer be nested so each will have its own separate variables.

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