Are there any element function in MATLAB?

for example I cannot run this: sort(x)(1) nor (sort(x))(1), but I want to do this somehow in one line, for example with a built in function element():

element(sort(x),1);

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Yes, you can do it by using subsref(), but it is not at all pretty to do. So it is much easier to write a small extra function:

element = @(X, varargin) X(varargin{:});

This code is not restricted to one subscript and is not restricted to scalar indices. Note though that if you want to use : by itself then you will need to quote it, like

element(sortrows(x), 1, ':')