Brackets, Parentheses, and Curly Braces

Matlab syntax uses a combination of brackes [], parentheses (), and curly braces {}. It can often be confusing when it is appropriate to be using which symbols.

Parentheses ( )

Parentheses are used for:

Indexing into an array	`x(1:3)`
Defining order of operations	`(3+4)^2`
Function inputs	`mean(x)`

Brackets [ ]

Brackets are used to:

Create an array or matrix	`x = [1 2; 3 4]`
Delete (excise) elements	`x(x < 0) = []`
Group function outputs	`[value index] = max(x)`

Curly Braces { }

Curly braces are used to:

Create a cell array	`bases = {'A’, 'G’, 'T’, 'C’}`
Get content from a cell array	`guanine = labels{2}`