How to delete a row of the matrix in Matlab and Octave

To remove a row of a matrix in Matlab / Octave type the command

M(n,:)=[ ]

• M is the name of the matrix
• n is the number of the row to be deleted
• [ ] is an empty vector

Examples

Example 1

Define a 4x2 matrix

>> M = [ 1 2 ; 3 4 ; 5 6 ; 7 8 ]
M =
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8

To delete the first row from the matrix type M(1,:)=[ ]

>> M(1,:)=[ ]
M =
3 4
5 6
7 8

The first row is deleted from the matrix

The result is a 3x2 matrix

Example 1

Define a 3x3 matrix

>> M = [ 1 2 3 ; 4 5 6 ; 7 8 9 ]
M =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

To remove the second row of the matrix type M(2,:)=[ ]

>> M(:,2)=[]
M =
1 2 3
7 8 9

This command deletes the second row of the matrix

The result is a 2x3 matrix.