any — Test whether any elements are nonzero along a dimension in MATLAB and RunMat.

any(X) returns logical true when at least one element in the selected slice of X is nonzero. By default, any reduces along the first non-singleton dimension; optional dim, "all", and nanflag arguments follow MATLAB semantics.

Syntax

B = any(A)
B = any(A, dim)
B = any(A, "all")
B = any(A, nanflag)
B = any(A, dim, nanflag)
B = any(A, nanflag, dim)

Inputs

Returns

Errors

How any works

• Works with logical, numeric, complex, and character arrays; other types raise a descriptive error.
• Accepts any(X, dim) to reduce along a single dimension or any(X, vecdim) to collapse multiple axes at once.
• any(X, 'all') flattens the entire array into a single logical scalar.
• any(___, 'omitnan') ignores NaN values (including complex parts) when deciding whether a slice contains nonzero content.
• any(___, 'includenan') (default) treats NaN as logical true, matching MATLAB behaviour.
• Empty dimensions yield logical zeros with MATLAB-compatible shapes; empty arrays reduced with 'all' return false.
• Results are always host-resident logical scalars or logical arrays, even when the input tensor lives on the GPU, because the runtime copies the compact output back to the CPU.

Does RunMat run any on the GPU?

RunMat Accelerate keeps inputs resident on the GPU whenever possible. Providers that expose reduce_any_dim (and optionally reduce_any) perform the OR-reduction on device buffers, and the runtime then downloads the tiny logical result back to the CPU (every any call returns a host logical array). When those hooks are missing, RunMat gathers the input tensor and evaluates the reduction on the host instead, preserving MATLAB behaviour in all cases.

GPU memory and residency

You usually do not need to call gpuArray manually. The fusion planner keeps GPU-resident inputs on the device and only gathers the small logical results that any produces. If your workload already uses explicit gpuArray/gather calls for MATLAB compatibility, RunMat honours them and still produces correct logical outputs.

Examples

Checking if any column in a matrix is nonzero

A = [0 2 0; 0 0 0];
colHasData = any(A)

Expected output:

colHasData = [0 1 0]

Detecting whether any row contains a nonzero entry

B = [0 4 0; 1 0 0; 0 0 0];
rowHasData = any(B, 2)

Expected output:

rowHasData = [1; 1; 0]

Reducing across multiple dimensions with vecdim

C = reshape(1:24, [3 4 2]);
hasValues = reshape(any(C > 20, [1 2]), 1, 2)

Expected output:

0 1

Checking all elements with the 'all' option

D = [0 0; 0 5];
anyNonZero = any(D, 'all')

Expected output:

anyNonZero = true

Ignoring NaN values when probing slices

E = [NaN 0 0; 0 0 0];
withNaN = any(E);              % returns [1 0 0]
ignoringNaN = any(E, 'omitnan'); % returns [0 0 0]
disp(withNaN);
disp(ignoringNaN)

Expected output:

1     0     0
     0     0     0

Running any on GPU arrays with automatic fallback

G = gpuArray([0 1 0; 0 0 0]);
gpuResult = any(G, 2);
hostResult = gather(gpuResult);
disp(hostResult)

Expected output:

1
0

Evaluating any on character data

chars = ['a' 0 'c'];
hasPrintable = any(chars)

Expected output:

hasPrintable = 1

Using any with coding agents

Open a RunMat example with live inputs, then ask the agent to explain how any changes the result.

FAQ

Related Math functions

Open-source implementation

Unlike proprietary runtimes, every RunMat function is open-source. Read exactly how any is executed, line by line, in Rust.

• View the source for any in Rust on GitHub
• Learn how the RunMat runtime works
• Found a bug? Open an issue with a minimal reproduction.

About RunMat

RunMat is an open-source runtime that executes MATLAB-syntax code blazing on any GPU. It is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.

• RunMat automatically optimizes your math for GPU execution on Apple, Nvidia, and AMD hardware. No code changes needed. Simulations that took hours now take minutes.
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