difference between command and function

What is the difference between command and function in MATLAB ? cos(x), fzero, sprintf... are introduced as commands in some books. Is it right?

[gang gyoo jin]

Many thanks. But I am still confused. Are Plot and subplot commands or functions?

[Stephen23]

@gang gyoo jin: they are all functions. And they are also all commands. All functions can be used as commands, so there is no difference between functions and commands in terms of their functionality. The difference is in the syntax of how they are called, not in the functionality of what they do. The different syntax is useful in different situations (command syntax is much more limited in what it can do).

As my answer showed, any function may be called using function syntax, and also command syntax.

To make your life easier just call them all "functions", and just ignore the different name "command".

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

There is no difference between functions and commands, the terms can be used to refer to the same functionality, the only difference is in how they are written, as the official MATLAB documentation explains:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/command-vs-function-syntax.html

The different syntax is shown here:

>> str2double('32') % function syntax (with parentheses)
ans =  32
>> str2double 32 % command syntax (without parentheses)
ans =  32

Note that with command syntax all trailing letter characters are treated as strings, and spaces separate input arguments. This often confuses beginners. In practice command syntax is useful only in some limited situations when using the command window. Do no use it for writing real code in scripts or functions.

Answer 2

[Korada Saikumar]

A=2 B=3 A+B