What does a = b > c specify in MATLAB syntax?

My guess is that it is a shorthand for an if-else condition where a = 1 if b>c is true. Is this correct? If yes, can I replace a = b > c with a suitable if else condition?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Yes, you can replace it with

if b > c
 a = logical(1);
else
 a = logical(0);
end

Another way of expressing this is:

if b > c
 a = true;
else
 a = false;
end

This is not the same as

if b > c
 a = 1;
else
 a = 0;
end

because in this later code, a = 1 or a = 0 assigns values of class double() to a, which behaves differently than when values of class logical() are assigned to a .

[Walter Roberson]

Note that using if/else like this is only valid for the case that a and b are both scalars.

Answer 2

[Matt J]

No, it is not a shorthand for if/else.

b>c is an expression that returns a value of true() or false(). In this case, the returned value is simply assigned to a.