In MATLAB, an alias is a user-defined name for a function or a file. Aliases can be created to simplify commands, make them more memorable, or to avoid conflicts with existing function names. Here's an example:
Suppose you frequently use the function sqrt() to calculate the square root of a number, but you find it too cumbersome to type out every time. You can create an alias for sqrt() using the alias command:
alias s sqrt
This creates an alias s for sqrt(). Now, you can simply type s(x) instead of sqrt(x) to calculate the square root of x. Note that the alias s is only valid for the current MATLAB session; you'll have to recreate it every time you start MATLAB.
Here's another example, where we create an alias for a custom function my_sum():
function result = my_sum(a, b)
result = a + b;
end
alias add my_sum
This creates an alias add for the custom function my_sum(). Now, you can use add(a,b) instead of my_sum(a,b) to add a and b.
To view a list of all defined aliases, use the command alias without any input arguments. To remove an alias, use the unalias command followed by the alias name. For instance, to remove the alias s we created earlier, use the command:
unalias s