How can I distinguish between a variable and a MATLAB file that have the same name in MATLAB 7.6 (R2008a)?

I have the following line of code

g = example(4)

I would like to be able to determine if this is referencing the variable example or calling the function MATLAB function example.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

There are two functions that MATLAB provides that might be useful. The best option will depend on the specific application.

1) You can use the WHICH command, which returns the function or variable that will be called by a particular line of code. For example, the following command will return what will be executed when the command example(3) is issued. The output will indicate if it is a variable or a function.

which('example(3)');

You may request outputs from WHICH and parse them to do this programmatically:

x = which('example(3)');

You can read more about the WHICH command at the following website:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/which.html

2) You can use the EXIST command. The following example assumes that there is a file on the MATLAB path called "example2.m".

tst_name='example2';
if exist(tst_name, 'var')==1
   fprintf('%s is a variable.\n', tst_name);
end

if exist(tst_name, 'file')==2
   fprintf('%s is a file on the MATLAB path.\n', tst_name);
end

You can read more about the EXIST command at the following website:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/exist.html