How do I create enumerated types in MATLAB?

Question

Are there enumerated types in MATLAB? If not, what are the alternatives?

Answer 1

You could make a Matlab class that behaves like a Java's old typesafe enum pattern. A modification of Marc's solution could take it from C-style typedefs to more like Java-style typesafe enums. In this version, the values in the constants are typed Color objects.

The upsides:

• The type can be checked (at runtime) by == and other operations to prevent accidental comparison to raw numerics or other types of enums.
• You can explicitly check the type of your variables (at runtime).
• Values are displayed with readable names instead of the opaque codes.
• Operations like mean() and std() that don't make sense on enums are disallowed.

Downsides:

• Longer class definition. But, this is all boilerplate, and can be reused for any other enum class, changing just the class name and Constant properties.
• These enums cannot be used directly in switch blocks. Need to pop the Code out, which loses some type safety.
• Objects will be slower than primitives. Relevant if you're using constants inside loops.

On the whole, I don't know which approach is better. Haven't used either in practice.

classdef (Sealed) Color
%COLOR Example of Java-style typesafe enum for Matlab

properties (Constant)
    RED = Color(1, 'RED');
    GREEN = Color(2, 'GREEN');
    BLUE = Color(3, 'BLUE');
end
properties (SetAccess=private)
    % All these properties are immutable.
    Code;
    Name;
end
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
methods (Access = private)
%private so that you can't instatiate directly
    function out = Color(InCode, InName)
        out.Code = InCode;
        out.Name = InName;
    end       
end
methods (Static = true)
    function needa(obj)
    %NEEDA Asserts that obj must be a Color
        if ~isa(obj, mfilename)
            error('Input must be a %s; got a %s', mfilename, class(obj));
        end
    end
end
methods (Access = public)
    function display(obj)
      disp([inputname(1) ' =']);
      disp(obj);
    end
    function disp(obj)
        if isscalar(obj)
            disp(sprintf('%s: %s (%d)', class(obj), obj.Name, obj.Code));
        else
            disp(sprintf('%s array: size %s', class(obj), mat2str(size(obj))));
        end
    end    
    function out = eq(a, b)
        %EQ Basic "type-safe" eq
        check_type_safety(a, b);
        out = [a.Code] == [b.Code];
    end
    function [tf,loc] = ismember(a, b)
        check_type_safety(a, b);
        [tf,loc] = ismember([a.Code], [b.Code]);
    end
    function check_type_safety(varargin)
        %CHECK_TYPE_SAFETY Check that all inputs are of this enum type
        for i = 1:nargin
            if ~isa(varargin{i}, mfilename)
                error('Non-typesafe comparison of %s vs. %s', mfilename, class(varargin{i}));
            end
        end
    end
end
end

Here's a function to exercise it.

function do_stuff_with_color(c)
%DO_STUFF_WITH_COLOR Demo use of the Color typesafe enum

Color.needa(c); % Make sure input was a color
if (c == Color.BLUE)
    disp('color was blue');
else
    disp('color was not blue');
end

% To work with switch statements, you have to explicitly pop the code out 
switch c.Code
    case Color.BLUE.Code
        disp('blue');
    otherwise
        disp(sprintf('some other color: %s', c.Name));
end

Example of use:

>> Color.RED == Color.RED
ans =
     1
>> Color.RED == 1
??? Error using ==> Color>Color.check_type_safety at 55
Non-typesafe comparison of Color vs. double

Error in ==> Color>Color.eq at 44
        check_type_safety(a, b);

>> do_stuff_with_color(Color.BLUE)
color was blue
blue
>> do_stuff_with_color(Color.GREEN)
color was not blue
some other color: GREEN
>> do_stuff_with_color(1+1) % oops - passing the wrong type, should error
??? Error using ==> Color>Color.needa at 26
Input must be a Color; got a double

Error in ==> do_stuff_with_color at 4
Color.needa(c); % Make sure input was a color

>> 

A minor quirk in both approaches: the C convention of putting the constant on the left hand of the "==" to prevent bad assignment doesn't help as much here. In Matlab, if you accidentally use "=" with this constant on the LHS, instead of an error, it'll just create a new local struct variable named Colors, and it will mask the enum class.

>> Colors.BLUE = 42
Colors = 
    BLUE: 42
>> Color.BLUE = 42
Color = 
    BLUE: 42
>> Color.RED
??? Reference to non-existent field 'RED'.