MATLAB Programming Fundamentals - MathWorks

Combining Unlike Integer Types

In this section...

“Overview” on page 15-3

“Example of Combining Unlike Integer Sizes” on page 15-3

“Example of Combining Signed with Unsigned” on page 15-4

Overview

If you combine different integer types in a matrix (e.g., signed with unsigned, or 8-bit

integers with 16-bit integers), MATLAB returns a matrix in which all elements are of one

common type. MATLAB sets all elements of the resulting matrix to the data type of the

left-most element in the input matrix. For example, the result of the following

concatenation is a vector of three 16-bit signed integers:

A = [int16(450) uint8(250) int32(1000000)]

Example of Combining Unlike Integer Sizes

After disabling the integer concatenation warnings as shown above, concatenate the

following two numbers once, and then switch their order. The return value depends on

the order in which the integers are concatenated. The left-most type determines the data

type for all elements in the vector:

A = [int16(5000) int8(50)]

A =

5000 50

B = [int8(50) int16(5000)]

B =

50 127

The first operation returns a vector of 16-bit integers. The second returns a vector of 8-bit

integers. The element int16(5000) is set to 127 , the maximum value for an 8-bit signed

integer.

The same rules apply to vertical concatenation:

C = [int8(50); int16(5000)]

C =

Combining Unlike Integer Types