My question is that given an array A, how can you give another array identical to A except changing all negatives to 0 (without changing values in A)?
My way to do this is:
B = A;
B(B<0)=0
Is there any one-line command to do this and also not requiring to create another copy of A?
While this particular problem does happen to have a one-liner solution, e.g. as pointed out by Luis and Ian's suggestions, in general if you want a copy of a matrix with some operation performed on it, then the way to do it is exactly how you did it. Matlab doesn't allow chained operations or compound expressions, so you generally have no choice but to assign to a temporary variable in this manner.
However, if it makes you feel better, B=A is efficient as it will not result in any new allocated memory, unless / until B or A change later on. In other words, before the B(B<0)=0 step, B is simply a reference to A and takes no extra memory. This is just how matlab works under the hood to ensure no memory is wasted on simple aliases.
PS. There is nothing efficient about one-liners per se; in fact, you should avoid them if they lead to obscure code. It's better to have things defined over multiple lines if it makes the logic and intent of the algorithm clearer.
e.g, this is also a valid one-liner that solves your problem:
B = subsasgn(A, substruct('()',{A<0}), 0)
This is in fact the literal answer to your question (i.e. this is pretty much code that matlab will call under the hood for your commands). But is this clearer, more elegant code just because it's a one-liner? No, right?
Try
B = A.*(A>=0)
Explanation:
A>=0 - create matrix where each element is 1 if >= 0, 0 otherwise
A.*(A>=0) - multiply element-wise
B = A.*(A>=0) - Assign the above to B.
max(A,0)