what this colon mean in this code

buf(:,:) = abs(p(:,1,:)); norm_buf=buf./max(max(buf));

i have this code as a part of program but i did not get what is mean

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

The colons here mean all the elements in that particular ‘page’ of the matrix. See the documentation for colon,: (link) for the details.

[waad Alzahrani]

i saw this! but still did not get it, can u explain it to me in this particular code please

[Star Strider]

I will do my best.

For example if ‘p’ is a (2x3x4) matrix, ‘p(:,1,:)’ is the same as: ‘p(1:2,1,1:4)’.

Writing ‘p(:,1,:)’ is easier, especially if the size of ‘p’ changes either within a particular script, or between different runs of the script or calls to a function.