I am using Octave. I wrote this simple script with name example1.m:
t = [0:0.01:5];
x2 = exp(-3*t);
plot(t,x2);
I am waiting for the plot, but I get this error:
Octave: invalid use of script in index expression in exp function
This script works with other default functions like abs, log, etc. and it worked in the past with the exp function. But now it's not.
What is the problem?
Related
If I write this:
clc
clear
close all
format long
fprintf( 1, 'Starting...\n' )
function results = do_thing()
results = 1;
end
results = do_thing()
And run it with Octave, it works correctly:
Starting...
results = 1
But if I try to run it with Matlab 2017b, it throws this error:
Error: File: testfile.m Line: 13 Column: 1
Function definitions in a script must appear at the end of the file.
Move all statements after the "do_thing" function definition to before the first local function
definition.
Then, if I fix the error as follows:
clc
clear
close all
format long
fprintf( 1, 'Starting...\n' )
results = do_thing()
function results = do_thing()
results = 1;
end
It works correctly on Matlab:
Starting...
results =
1
But now, it stopped working with Octave:
Starting...
error: 'do_thing' undefined near line 8 column 11
error: called from
testfile at line 8 column 9
This problem was explained on this question: Run octave script file containing a function definition
How to fix it without having to create a separate and exclusive file for the function do_thing()?
Is this issue fixed on some newer version of Matlab as 2019a?
The answer is in the comments, but for the sake of clarity:
% in file `do_thing.m`
function results = do_thing()
results = 1;
end
% in your script file
clc; clear; close all; format long;
fprintf( 1, 'Starting...\n' );
results = do_thing();
Accompanying explanatory rant:
The canonical and safest way to define functions is to define them in their own file, and make this file accessible in octave / matlab's path.
Octave has supported 'dynamic' function definitions (i.e. in the context of a script or the command-line) since practically forever. However, for the purposes of compatibility, since matlab did not support this, most people did not use it, and quite sensibly relied on the canonical way instead.
Matlab has recently finally introduced dynamic function definitions too, but has opted to implement them explicitly in a way that breaks compatibility with octave, as you describe above. (rant: this may be a coincidence and an earnest design decision, but I do note that it also happens to go against prior matlab conventions regarding nested functions, which were allowed to be defined anywhere within their enclosing scope).
In a sense, nothing has changed. Matlab was incompatible with advanced octave functionality, and now that it has introduced its own implementation of this functionality, it is still incompatible. This is a blessing in disguise. Why? Because, if you want intercompatible code, you should rely on the canonical form and good programming practices instead of littering your scripts with dynamic functions, which is what you should be doing anyway.
Octave's implementation of local functions in scripts is different from Matlab's. Octave requires that local functions in scripts be defined before their use. But Matlab requires that local functions in scripts all be defined at the end of the file.
So you can use local functions in scripts on both applications, but you can't write a script that will work on both. So just use functions if you want code that will work on both Matlab and Octave.
Examples:
Functions at end
disp('Hello world')
foo(42);
function foo(x)
disp(x);
end
In Matlab R2019a:
>> myscript
Hello world
42
In Octave 5.1.0:
octave:1> myscript
Hello world
error: 'foo' undefined near line 2 column 1
error: called from
myscript at line 2 column 1
Functions before use
disp('Hello world')
function foo(x)
disp(x);
end
foo(42);
In Matlab R2019a:
>> myscript
Error: File: myscript.m Line: 7 Column: 1
Function definitions in a script must appear at the end of the file.
Move all statements after the "foo" function definition to before the first local function definition.
In Octave 5.1.0:
octave:2> myscript
Hello world
42
How it works
Note that technically the functions here in Octave are not "local functions", but "command-line functions". Instead of defining a function that is local to the script, they define global functions that come into existence when the function statement is evaluated.
The following code works on both Matlab and Octave:
if exist('do_nothing') == 0
disp('function not yet defined, run script again')
else
do_nothing
end
%====
function results = do_nothing()
results = 1;
end
When run on octave, the first attempt exits with the message, but subsequent attempts succeed. On Matlab, it works the first time. While this works on both platforms, it is less than ideal, since it requires that much of the script code be placed inside an "if" statement block.
This is a simple Matlab code that I'm trying to execute.
function result = scale(img, value)
result = value .* img;
end
dolphin = imread('dolphin.png')
imshow(scale(dolphin, 1.5));
The error says:
Error: File: scale.m Line: 5 Column: 1
This statement is not inside any function.
(It follows the END that terminates the definition of the function "scale".)
What am I doing wrong here?
scale.m is a function M-file because it begins with the keyword function. The part up to end is the definition of the function. When you call scale at the MATLAB command line, it executes the code in the function. The stuff that comes after end is not part of the function, and hence cannot be executed.
If you intended to write a script with a private function scale that you want to use only within this script, then put the lines of code that read and display dolphin at the top of the file. The private functions should come after the script part. This syntax is supported since MATLAB R2016b.
Otherwise, move the dolphin code to a different M-file, which would be a simple script M-file without any function definitions. This script can then use scale, which would call the function in the file scale.m.
A third alternative, keeping all code in the same file, is to not use a script at all, and put the script code inside a function:
function f % just a random name
dolphin = imread('dolphin.png')
imshow(scale(dolphin, 1.5));
end
function result = scale(img, value)
result = value .* img;
end
(The function name doesn't need to match the file name, although the MATLAB editor will warn you if these names don't match.)
I'm experiencing a puzzling error in Matlab R2012b. It seems that variable names that are also data types exhibit strange behavior. Please see this small example:
function [] = test1()
dataset = 1;
if dataset ~= 0
disp hello
end
end
A call to test1() produces output hello, as expected.
Now, rather than set the value of dataset in my function, I run a script instead.
function [] = test2()
myscript;
if dataset ~= 0
disp hello
end
end
where myscript.m has one line:
dataset=1;
Now, when I call test2() I get this error:
Undefined function 'ne' for input arguments of type 'dataset'.
Error in test2 (line 4)
if dataset ~= 0
(Forgive the variable named dataset - I know that it is also the name of a data type, and it came in the code I was running.) So it seems as if in test2, Matlab creates an empty dataset object rather than using the variable named dataset. Furthermore, this behavior only appears when I set the value in a script rather than in the function body. Even more weird, is that I can do:
>> dbstop in test2 at 4 % line of if statement
>> test2()
K>> dataset
dataset =
1.00
K>> dataset ~= 0
ans =
1
K>> if dataset ~= 0, disp hello; end
hello
K>> dbcont
and I get the same error! The error is not displayed in debugging mode but it is in normal execution.
Can anyone reproduce this? What is going on here?
The MATLAB online help has some pages dealing with this issue; Variables Names and Loading Variables within a Function seem to be the most relevant.
There is no explicit page that discusses how MATLAB resolves names at compilation time, but there is one little tidbit at the bottom of the Variables Names page: "In some cases, load or eval add variables that have the same names as functions. Unless these variables are in the function workspace before the call to load or eval, the MATLAB parser interprets the variable names as function names."
In other words, if the parser finds an explicit assignment to a variable whose name is the same as another existent object, the local definition takes precedence.
In your test2(), there is no explicit assignment to a variable dataset; therefore, when the file is compiled, the parser interprets dataset to be a class constructor (since the parser will not run or inline myscript into the function).
Then at run-time, even though a variable named dataset has been poofed1 into the function's workspace, the interpreted code that is running still has the dataset symbol in the if-statement associated with the class constructor.
If you need to, you can still use the dataset variable name and load from an external file, but it should be done with an explicit assignment via a function call. For example:
dataset = initialize();
Now the parser will notice that dataset is some arbitrary output of the function initialize and all will be well. In fact, you can have even have initialize return a dataset constructor to the dataset variable if you wanted.
1 When variables are defined without explicit assignment, MATLAB people (at least on some of their blogs I've read) called this 'poofing'. Using load without any output arguments, using eval, and simply running scripts (not functions) can all poof variables into the workspace. This can work fine as long as the variable names do not conflict with other in-use symbols at compile time.
I have the following call to a function:
callfun(I1, I2, [X Y ones(n,1)], w, m)
But, I'm getting:
Error: File: callfun.m Line: 20 Column: 3
Unexpected MATLAB expression.
Why is that?
Thanks.
The error says, that your function callfun has a syntax error in line 20. Probably some character which is not allowed.
It can be also a problem of duplicated function definition. A function inside callfun.m may have the same name as a built-in MATLAB function, what yields an error.
From http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/214993-how-to-solve-error-unexpected-matlab-expression-workspacefunc-287:
Do you have any user-defined functions called builtin, strjoin, or strsplit? MATLAB has these defined internally, and having any outside functions that shadow these built-in ones would result in this error. If you are unsure if you have created such functions, typing the command:
>>which functionName -all
will show you the path to all items on the MATLAB path with the name "functionName"
I wrote the following function in a file named conditionals.m:
function result = conditionals(category, feature)
result=5;
end
I call this function from Octave's command line:
v=conditionals(3,4)
I get the following error:
error : A(I) : Index exceeds matrix dimension.
Whats wrong here?
The error:
error : A(I) : Index exceeds matrix dimension.
Indicates that octave thinks that conditionals is a matrix, not a function.
Octave probably doesn't know that conditionals is a function - and instead it's treating it as a matrix.
Have you checked to see if the function is in Octave's search path?
This works for me.
octave> function result = conditionals (category, feature)
> result = 5;
> endfunction
octave> v = conditionals (3, 4)
v = 5
The error suggests that you have a variable with the same name as the function. Type whos at the Octave prompt to see a list of defined variables. If you see one named conditionals, remove it with clear conditionals
Also, if conditionals is a conditionals.m file, make sure it's on the function search path. Run path at the Octave prompt to see the function search path. Run which conditionals at the command prompt to see where the function is located.
It happened to me as well and it can happen on any command, regardless of the command name. When I run the PS1(">>"); to change the command prompt in Ovtave, I got the same error.
octave-3.2.3.exe:9> PS1(">>");
error: A(I): Index exceeds matrix dimension.
As others also mentioned, this error fires when there is a parameter with the same command name. It happens when we mistakenly enter the command with wrong syntax and hence, octave run the command and produce a variable with your command name that overload the internal command.
You can verify this status by who command. If you can see the same variable name as your command here, you have to remove it. Use clear variable_name to remove the variable.
Here is my output for PS1 command.
Hope it helps.