Create help for method with arguments

I like to document my functions, such that on pressing on F1, it shows description of the function, and its parameters.

The recently introduced arguments block allows to define arguments sizes and types. What is the best practice to document these arguments?

I preferably like to keep the defintion and the documentation at the same location, like in the example below:

function [m,s] = twoStats(x)
    % Test for help
    arguments
        x (1,:) {mustBeNumeric}  % Argument 1, the array to calculate statistics on
    end
    m = mean(x,"all");
    s = std(x,1,"all");
end

Preferred output:

doc twoStats
Test for help

Arguments:
- x: Argument 1, the array to calculate statistics on

Answer 1

[Matt J]

The Quick Access Toolbar function favoriteArgs2Help.m, now available in this FEX submission,

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/181000-customized-text-modification-buttons-for-the-matlab-editor?s_tid=prof_contriblnk

will reformat and transfer the arg block info to help text.

Answer 2

[Matt J]

function [m,s] = twoStats(x)
    % Test for help
    %
    %Arguments:
    % - x: Argument 1, the array to calculate statistics on
    
    arguments
        x (1,:) {mustBeNumeric}  % Argument 1, the array to calculate statistics on
    end
    m = mean(x,"all");
    s = std(x,1,"all");
end

[Vasco]

Ok, this seems the trivial solution, just copy paste the information from the arguments block to the documentation block. However, now the documentation and definition is split to different places.

[Matt J]

There is no other solution. The help text can only be in one place. You could of course, write tools that will semi-automate the documentation process. Once you have the argument text copied to the clipboard, code like the following can be used to parse it into the format you want:

>> contents = clipboard('paste')

contents =

'x (1,:) {mustBeNumeric} % Argument 1, the array to calculate statistics on'

>> out = "% - "+extractBefore(contents,' ')+" "+extractAfter(contents,'%'); disp(out)

% - x Argument 1, the array to calculate statistics on