I'm not aware of any built-in function. You'll probably have to write one yourself. Something like:
function [mxs,mxinds] = mymax(A)
N = size(A,1);
M = size(A,2);
% allocate arrays for output
mxs = zeros(M,1);
mxinds = zeros(M,1);
% This vector will track the indices of rows that we want to consider.
% Each time we find a max in a row as we go through the columns, we'll
% remove that index from 'inds'.
inds = (1:N).';
for j = 1:M % for each column
% Find the maximum value in column j among only the rows in inds.
% Load that maximum value into mxs(j), and the corresponding
% location into the variable indj.
[mxs(j),indj] = max(A(inds,j));
% Note that indj is the location of the max within the vector
% A(inds,j), NOT the location within A(:,j). The location within
% A(:,j) is given by the following:
mxinds(j) = inds(indj);
inds(indj) = []; % delete that row index from inds
end
end
This function sequentially looks for maximums of each column starting from column 1, but where for column j we only consider rows that we have not previously identified as a maximum in any of columns 1 to j-1. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're after. For example, if you only want to do this for columns 1 and 2, you'd need to make a modification. Or if you only wanted to exclude the row a maximum appeared in in the previous column (rather than all previous columns), you'd again have to modify things.
