nargout

Number of output arguments requested by the caller.

Syntax

n = nargout

Description

Inside a function body, returns how many output values the caller’s destructuring requested. Common for skipping expensive computations whose results aren’t going to be used:

function [m, idx] = costly(A)
  m = ...                  % always compute
  if nargout >= 2          % only compute idx if needed
    idx = ...
  end
end

Example

if nargout > 1; computeOptional(); end

See also

• nargin — Number of input arguments passed to the current function.
• nargoutchk — Validate the number of output arguments.