nargin vs exist

Question

Given a function like:

function foo(myParam)
if nargin<1
  myParam = \'default value\';
end % if
end % function

I\'ve seen people use so

Answer 1

I'd go with the NARGIN option, for the reasons listed by SCFrench. One additional benefit: I often find myself using it in conjunction with a SWITCH statement when I have more than 2 input arguments:

function outArgs = my_fcn(inArg1,inArg2,inArg3)
  switch nargin,
    case 0,  % No input case
      error('Not enough inputs!');
    case 1,  % Set last 2 inputs to default
      inArg2 = 'yes';
      inArg3 = 'on';
    case 2,  % Set last input to default
      inArg3 = 'on';
  end
  ...
  % Checking of variable types and values would go here! 
  ...
end