What's the difference between & and && in MATLAB?

Solution 1:

The single ampersand & is the logical AND operator. The double ampersand && is again a logical AND operator that employs short-circuiting behaviour. Short-circuiting just means the second operand (right hand side) is evaluated only when the result is not fully determined by the first operand (left hand side)

A & B (A and B are evaluated)

A && B (B is only evaluated if A is true)

Solution 2:

&& and || take scalar inputs and short-circuit always. | and & take array inputs and short-circuit only in if/while statements. For assignment, the latter do not short-circuit.

See these doc pages for more information.

Solution 3:

As already mentioned by others, & is a logical AND operator and && is a short-circuit AND operator. They differ in how the operands are evaluated as well as whether or not they operate on arrays or scalars:

• & (AND operator) and | (OR operator) can operate on arrays in an element-wise fashion.
• && and || are short-circuit versions for which the second operand is evaluated only when the result is not fully determined by the first operand. These can only operate on scalars, not arrays.