The Structure Data Type in Matlab

A structure is a named collection of data representing a single idea or "object.". For anything in a computer more complicated than a list of numbers, structures can be used. Inside a structure is a list of fields, each being a variable name for some sub-piece of data. Structures are similar to arrays in that they contain multiple data, but the main difference is that instead of an index to each piece of data, we have a "name," and instead of every piece of data being the same type, we can have a different type for each "field.".

Structures in Matlab

A structure is one of the 5 data types in programming. A structure is used to represent information about something more complicated than a single number, character, or boolean can do (and more complicated than an array of the above data types can do). For example, a student can be defined by his or her name, GPA, age, UID, etc. Each of these pieces of information should be labeled with an easily understood descriptive title and then combined to form a whole (the structure).

Structures give us a way to "combine" multiple types of information under a single variable. The nice thing is that structures allow us to use human-readable descriptions for our data. This is almost ALWAYS a better way to go than to use a group of arrays or even a cell array.