permute

Permute array dimensions

Syntax

B = permute(A,dimorder)

Description

B = permute(A,dimorder) rearranges the dimensions of an array in the order specified by the vector dimorder. For example, permute(A,[2 1]) switches the row and column dimensions of a matrix A. In general, the ith dimension of the output array is the dimension dimorder(i) from the input array.

Examples

3-D Array

Create a 3-by-4-by-2 array and permute it so that the first and third dimensions are switched, resulting in a 2-by-4-by-3 array.

rng default
A = rand(3,4,2)

A = 
A(:,:,1) =

    0.8147    0.9134    0.2785    0.9649
    0.9058    0.6324    0.5469    0.1576
    0.1270    0.0975    0.9575    0.9706


A(:,:,2) =

    0.9572    0.1419    0.7922    0.0357
    0.4854    0.4218    0.9595    0.8491
    0.8003    0.9157    0.6557    0.9340

B = permute(A,[3 2 1])

B = 
B(:,:,1) =

    0.8147    0.9134    0.2785    0.9649
    0.9572    0.1419    0.7922    0.0357


B(:,:,2) =

    0.9058    0.6324    0.5469    0.1576
    0.4854    0.4218    0.9595    0.8491


B(:,:,3) =

    0.1270    0.0975    0.9575    0.9706
    0.8003    0.9157    0.6557    0.9340

szB = size(B)

szB = 1×3

     2     4     3

Input Arguments

A — Input array

vector | matrix | multidimensional array

Input array, specified as a vector, matrix, or multidimensional array.

dimorder — Dimension order

row vector

Dimension order, specified as a row vector with unique, positive integer elements that represent the dimensions of the input array.

Extended Capabilities

Tall Arrays

Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.

This function supports tall arrays with the limitation:

Permuting the tall dimension (dimension one) is not supported.

For more information, see Tall Arrays for Out-of-Memory Data.

C/C++ Code Generation

Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• dimorder must be a fixed-size row vector.

• If B is a heterogeneous cell array, dimorder must be a constant. To learn more about heterogeneous cell arrays, see Code Generation for Cell Arrays (MATLAB Coder).

Thread-Based Environment

Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

This function fully supports thread-based environments. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions in Thread-Based Environment.

GPU Arrays

Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

The permute function fully supports GPU arrays. To run the function on a GPU, specify the input data as a gpuArray (Parallel Computing Toolbox). For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Distributed Arrays

Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

This function fully supports distributed arrays. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2025a: Code generation support

You can generate C/C++ code for this function.

R2019b: Noninteger or complex dimension order arguments produce error

Starting in R2019b, the syntax permute(A,dimorder) produces an error when dimorder is a noninteger or complex value. Instead, specify real, positive integer values for dimorder.