Use cells or char with if command

Question

Luis 2012-4-5

Hello, I have a problem when passing a char character into a function, for instance, lets have a script

% run.m
y='negros'
x=randomfunction(y)

and the function

function x=randomfunction(y)
if y=='blancos'
   x=5
elseif y=='negros'
   x=0
end

But it does not work, I get

??? Error using ==> eq
Matrix dimensions must agree.
Error in ==> funcion at 3
if y=='blancos'
Error in ==> prueba at 4
x=funcion(y)

Can you guess how to fix this?

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

Oleg Komarov 2012-4-5

String comparisons should be carried out with strcmp

if strcmp(y,'blancos')
    x = 5;
elseif strcmp(y,'negros')
    x = 0;
end

Alternatively, using switch:

switch y
    case 'blancos'
        x = 5;
    case 'negros'
        x = 0;
end