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Function List:

C++ API

: min (x)
: min (x, [], dim)
: [w, iw] = min (x)
: min (x, y)

Find minimum values in the array x.

For a vector argument, return the minimum value. For a matrix argument, return a row vector with the minimum value of each column. For a multi-dimensional array, min operates along the first non-singleton dimension.

If the optional third argument dim is present then operate along this dimension. In this case the second argument is ignored and should be set to the empty matrix.

For two matrices (or a matrix and a scalar), return the pairwise minimum.

Thus, 

min (min (x))

returns the smallest element of the 2-D matrix x, and 

min (2:5, pi)
   ⇒  2.0000  3.0000  3.1416  3.1416

compares each element of the range 2:5 with pi, and returns a row vector of the minimum values.

For complex arguments, the magnitude of the elements are used for comparison. If the magnitudes are identical, then the results are ordered by phase angle in the range (-pi, pi]. Hence, 

min ([-1 i 1 -i])
   ⇒ -i

because all entries have magnitude 1, but -i has the smallest phase angle with value -pi/2.

If called with one input and two output arguments, min also returns the first index of the minimum value(s). Thus, 

[x, ix] = min ([1, 3, 0, 2, 0])
   ⇒  x = 0
       ix = 3

See also: max, cummin, cummax.

Package: octave