Pass .NET Data Types to MATLAB Functions

When you pass .NET data as input arguments to MATLAB^® functions, the engine converts the data into equivalent MATLAB data types.

These tables show how the engine maps .NET data types to MATLAB data types.

Pass .NET Numeric Types to MATLAB

.NET Data Type (Scalar)	Resulting MATLAB Type (Scalar)
System.Double	double
System.Single	single
System.SByte	int8
System.Byte	uint8
System.Int16	int16
System.UInt16	uint16
System.Int32	int32
System.UInt32	uint32
System.Int64	int64
System.UInt64	uint64
System.Boolean	logical
Numerics.Complex	complex double MATLAB does not support complex numbers for other numeric types.
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABStruct	struct

.NET Data Type (1-D Vector)	Resulting MATLAB Type (1-D Vector)
System.Double[]	double
System.Single[]	single
System.SByte[]	int8
System.Byte[]	uint8
System.Int16[]	int16
System.UInt16[]	uint16
System.Int32[]	int32
System.UInt32[]	uint32
System.Int64[]	int64
System.UInt64[]	uint64
System.Boolean[]	logical
Numerics.Complex[]	complex double MATLAB does not support complex numbers for other numeric types.
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABStruct[]	struct[]

.NET Data Type (N-D Array)	Resulting MATLAB Type (N-D Array)
System.Double[,,...]	double
System.Single[,,...]	single
System.SByte[,,...]	int8
System.Byte[,,...]	uint8
System.Int16[,,...]	int16
System.UInt16[,,...]	uint16
System.Int32[,,...]	int32
System.UInt32[,,...]	uint32
System.Int64[,,...]	int64
System.UInt64[,,...]	uint64
System.Boolean[,,...]	logical
Numerics.Complex[,,...]	complex double MATLAB does not support complex numbers for other numeric types.
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABStruct[,,...]	struct[,,...]

Constants	Resulting MATLAB Value
System.Double.NaN	Result of NaN("double")
System.Single.NaN	Result of NaN("single")
System.Double.PositiveInfinity	Result of Inf("double")
System.Single.PositiveInfinity	Result of Inf("single")
System.Double.NegativeInfinity	Result of -Inf("double")
System.Single.NegativeInfinity	Result of -Inf("single")

Note

The .NET System.Decimal type is not supported for scalar, vector, or array arguments.

Pass .NET String and Character Types to MATLAB

.NET Data Type (Scalar)	Resulting MATLAB Type (Scalar)
System.String	string
System.Char	char
null System.String	<missing> value in string

.NET Data Type (1-D Vector)	Resulting MATLAB Type (1-D Vector)
System.String[]	string
System.Char[]	char

.NET Data Type (N-D Array)	Resulting MATLAB Type (N-D Array)
System.String[,,...]	string
System.Char[,,...]	char

Pass .NET Dictionary to MATLAB

To convert a .NET object to a MATLAB dictionary:

• The type of the object implements the System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary<TKey,TValue> interface exactly once.

• For each dictionary entry, the key (TKey) must be a numeric, boolean, or string type.

• For each dictionary entry, the value (TValue) can be converted to a MATLAB data type using the conversion rules in Pass .NET Data Types to MATLAB Functions.

  The resulting dictionary must be a valid MATLAB dictionary. An example of an invalid dictionary is one that contains two values of different classes that are not heterogeneous.

For examples, see Use MATLAB Dictionary Objects in .NET.

.NET Data Type	Resulting MATLAB Type
System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<TKey,TValue> if TKey and TValue can be converted keys and values in a MATLAB dictionary.	dictionary

The type of keys (TKey) and values (TValue) must be one of these types, resulting in these conversions:

.NET Type	C# Keyword	Resulting MATLAB Type	Restrictions
System.Boolean	bool	logical	None
System.SByte	sbyte	int8	None
System.Byte	byte	uint8	None
System.Int16	short	int16	None
System.UInt16	ushort	uint16	None
System.Int32	int	int32	None
System.UInt32	uint	uint32	None
System.Int64	long	int64	None
System.UInt64	ulong	uint64	None
System.Single	float	single	None
System.Double	double	double	None
System.Char	char	string	None
System.String	string	string	None
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABObject	None	value or handle class	Not supported as keys
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABStruct	None	struct
System.Object	object	cell

Pass .NET System.Object to MATLAB

.NET Data Type	Resulting MATLAB Type
System.Object[]	1-D cell vector
System.Object[,,...]	N-D cell array

Pass .NET Handle and Value Objects to MATLAB

.NET Object Type	Resulting MATLAB Type
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABObject	scalar of underlying MATLAB type
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABObject[]	1-D vector of underlying MATLAB type
MathWorks.MATLAB.Types.MATLABObject[,,...]	N-D array of underlying MATLAB type

Related Topics

• Handle MATLAB Data in .NET Applications