Syntax to comment/uncomment line(s) of code in a Matlab script

I am writing a code for a class project. It requires me to do same calculations for two different cases based on user input. I was going to code it in a way that the program would ask user which case to follow. However, I found out that because of various parameters related to each other, this will be extremely difficult. However, I thought of another way to do this but I don't know if I could do it in Matlab. So the way I want to code is, I would ask the user to choose one of the two cases, and based on his input, I would comment or uncomment OR read or skip a bunch of lines or line numbers. Is this possible to do in a running Matlab script? I know how to comment/uncomment a line in a Matlab script that's not running, but I was wondering if there is a syntax to skip reading certain lines in a running Matlab script.

Answer 1

[Matt Kindig]

There is no way (at least as far as I am aware) to comment out lines programatically. However, even if you could, this is almost certainly not a good approach for what you are trying to do.

Instead, I think the easiest way is just to wrap it in an if statement

if (user_input_condition_1)

    %code to run for case 1

else

    %code to run for case 2

end

You can also use switch statements instead of the if statements--the approach is similar.

Answer 2

[Jason Ross]

I would use an "if" statement combined with some functions.

The "if" provides the control flow, and the functons called prevent duplication of code.

For example, assuming "a" is the result of your question:

answer = 0;
if a == true
    p1 = function1;
    p2 = function2;
    p3 = function3;
    answer = p1+p2+p3;
else
    p1 = function1;
    p2 = function3;
    answer = p1+p2;
end

disp(answer)

function o1 = function1
    o1 = 1;
end

function o2 = function2
    o2 = 2 + function1;
end

function o3 = function3
    o3 = 3;
end

Answer 3

[Image Analyst]

Sometimes I'll have a flag that I can set to do certain lines of code, like fprintf() debug statements. I can have an if statement lots of places in the code and just set the flag at the beginning.

showDebugMessages = true;  % Set to true or false

if showDebugMessages 
  fprintf(.........
  % other conditional code.....
end

% More code that always executes.

% Now conditional code again:
if showDebugMessages 
  fprintf(.........
  % other conditional code.....
end