Is there a way to access a struct object's reference (handle) in MATLAB?

Let's say I have a struct object A with some fields :

A.a=1;

I have an another struct objetc B with some fields, one of them being the value of A :

B.b=A;

My issue is that when I change fields of A, it won't affect B.b :

> A.a=2

A = 

  struct with fields:

    a: 2

>> B.b

ans = 

  struct with fields:

    a: 1

Is there a "built-in" way to tell MATLAB that I want B.b to be not a copy of value of A, but a reference to A, so that when I change A it reflects when I access B.b?

I mean, besides defining and using classes which inherit from handle?

Answer 1

[Paul Hoffrichter]

This may be close to what you are looking for. Define a classA.m

classdef classA < handle
  properties
    a
  end
  
  methods
    function obj = classA(a)
      obj.a = a;
    end
  end
end

Run the following:

>> A = classA(1)
A = 
  classA with properties:

    a: 1
>> A.a
ans =
     1
>> B.b = A;
>> B.b
ans = 
  classA with properties:

    a: 1
>> A.a = 2
A = 
  classA with properties:

    a: 2
>> B.b
ans = 
  classA with properties:

    a: 2
>> B.b.a
ans =
     2

[Etienne Lebard]

Thanks! :)

I thought maybe there was a way to access the handle of a struct object, but that solution does what I need it to do

[Paul Hoffrichter]

Glad to have helped.