Why do I receive the error "Attempt to execute SCRIPT FILENAME as a function"?

I receive the error:

 ??? Attempt to execute SCRIPT untitled as a function.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This error results because there is a MATLAB script named [filename] and your calling syntax requires that this script either takes arguments or returns values, which are properties of a function and not of a script. For example, if you have a script called 'banana.m' containing:

disp('banana');

and you call the script with two input arguments as though it were a function by typing the following at the Command Prompt:

banana(1,1)

Then you will get the error. To call the script without error, try calling the script without arguments:

banana

Second, the error can happen because there is a script [filename] and a function [filename] that both exist on the path. If the script appears before the function on the path, then your commands will attempt to use it instead of the function. In Release 2006b (R2006b) and newer versions of MATLAB, the error message will display the location of the script that is called. Rename this script to a more appropriate name. For previous product releases you may use the command:

which <filename>

to determine which instance of [filename] that MATLAB is attempting to call. If you want to see all instances of a function on the path, type the command:

which <filename> -all

Alternatively, such behavior may occur in certain scenarios where your filename contains invalid characters. In particular, you may see this error if the filename contains characters that are MATLAB operators such as -, +, or *. MATLAB filenames must begin with a letter, which may be followed by any combination of letters, digits, and underscores.

[Jimsy Johnson]

Thanks

[LinnLinn Thike]

Thanks for the answer...

[AKRAM ANSARI]

Thanks

[Ameneh Sheikhjafari]

Thanks

[Ammar Galala]

You saved my @$$ bro!! I appreciate it..

[kinblu]

"Second, the error can happen because there is a script [filename] and a function [filename] that both exist on the path. If the script appears before the function on the path, then your commands will attempt to use it instead of the function"

This was my problem, which I encountered in a code from a git repository, where the authors put a "dummy" .m file for documentation purposes of an .mex file.

You really saved my day, as this could have caused me to spend countless hours trying to figure out what's wrong!

[Yogini Prabhu]

It was very useful to me. thank you very much!

[zakria qadir]

I am getting this Error: anyone who can solve this/=?

Attempt to execute SCRIPT newplot as a function:

D:\MATLAB\R2017a\toolbox\matlab\graphics\newplot.m

Error in contour (line 66)

cax = newplot(cax);

Error in PSO_simulation (line 19)

contour(x_new, y_new, z , 20);

>>

[Walter Roberson]

I think you might have accidentally edited the file and added some characters before the "function" keyword

Answer 2

[Lode]

Maybe a stupid remark, but it took me 1h to find...

run(filename.m) doesn't work. You should use run('filename.m') if you didn't put the filename in a variable. This is a very basic mistake but maybe useful to somebody...

[Miki]

It was very useful to me. thank you very much!

[dan]

Not a stupid remark at all!

[Wong Yen Ann]

you can just type filename in the matlab console without the run()

Answer 3

[Bruce Lin]

As mentioned in my comment to JMS above, there is a different way you can get this error which the Mathworks respondents did not cover.

If you have a script called ABC.m and a script called ABC-copy.m, and try to run ABC-copy, it will fail with the error above "Attempt to execute SCRIPT FILENAME as a function"

MATLAB interprets the minus sign as an operator, not part of a filename, and the fact that you ALSO have a script called "ABC.m" means that MATLAB tries to execute

"ABC.m - copy.m"

You can prove this by temporarily deleting ABC.m and running 'ABC-copy'. You will see that you get a file not found error instead where MATLAB cannot find ABC.m

One would think that this could be corrected by executing 'ABC-copy.m', i.e. explicitly specifying the .m extension, but it doesn't fix the problem for me.

Hope this helps someone in the future.

[Steven Lord]

Function names in MATLAB must:

• Start with a letter
• Consist only of letters, numbers, and the underscore character
• Not be a keyword (see the output of ISKEYWORD)
• Be no more than NAMELENGTHMAX characters in length.

The function name "ABC-copy" violates the second of those restrictions. I would probably rename that function to "ABC_copy" instead.

[Bruce Lin]

Good point, thanks!

[Mohsin Shah]

I faced the same error and I fixeded it by following your answer. Thank you so much.

Answer 4

[Walter Roberson]

In addition:

As a practical matter, when basic built-in routines such as disp() are the ones being mentioned as scripts, the problem is almost always that the installation is corrupt for any of several reasons, and reinstallation is required.

A lesser possibility is that the installation is okay but the user has managed to set the MATLAB path to include library directories that should not be named directly, such as if the documentation directory has been added to the MATLAB path. In such cases, restoredefaultpath can be used.

Answer 5

[Hugo Pontes]

I'm just answering so that if anyone faces the same problem I did it'll easier to correct.

If you download the same .m file twice to windows it will automatically name it filename(1).m . If you try to run that file with the (1) MATLAB will assume it's a function and that error will prompt. It sounds silly but yes just change the file name!

Answer 6

[MAHESH BOLISETTY]

can u show the same syntax for perceptron script

[Walter Roberson]

You should probably create a new Question for this.

Answer 7

[Raed Noor]

What if I deleted the file and I don’t have an access to it anymore.

[Walter Roberson]

I think you will need to expand your question.

Answer 8

[Ivan Dwi Putra]

I can't execute the lqr function

close all

% Initial Conditions
x0 = [3;  % 3 radians
      0]; % 0 rad/s

% System Dynamics
A = [0    1; 
     0.01 0];
B = [0; 
     1];
C = [1 0];
D = 0;

% Control Law
Q = [1 0;  % Penalize angular error
     0 1]; % Penalize angular rate
R = 1;     % Penalize thruster effort
K = lqr(A,B,Q,R);

% Closed loop system
sys = ss((A - B*K), B, C, D);

% Run response to initial condition
t = 0:0.005:30;
[y,t,x] = initial(sys, x0, t);

Answer 9

[ismet iris]

comPort = 'COM7';

if (~exist('serialFlag','var'))

[arduino.s,serialFlag]=setupSerial(comPort);

end

if(~exist('h','var') || ~ishandle(h))

h=figure(1);

end

if(~exist('text1','var'))

text1=uicontrol('Style','Text','String','X: 0 degrees',...

'pos',[450 100 100 25],'parent',h);

end

if(~exist('text2','var'))

text2=uicontrol('Style','Text','String','Y: 0 degrees',...

'pos',[450 75 100 25],'parent',h);

end

if(~exist('button','var'))

button=uicontrol('Style','togglebutton','String','Stop & Close Serial Port',...

'pos',[0 0 200 25],'parent',h);

end

weights = [ 0 20 50 70 100 120 150 170 200 220 250];

m = zeros(length(weights),1);

for i = 2:length(weights)

mbox=msgbox(['Place' num2str(weights(i)) ' grams on thr FSR']); uiwait(mbox);

m(i)=readFSR(fsr);

while(m(i) < m(i-1)) || m(i) ==0

m(i) = readFSR(fsr);

end

end

p1=polyfit(m,weights,2);

myaxes=axes('xlim',[-20 20], 'ylim', [-20 20],'zlim',[-0 250]);

view(3);

grid on;

axis equal;

hold on;

[xsphere, ysphere, zsphere]=sphere();

h(1)=surface(xsphere, ysphere, zsphere);

combinedobject = hgtransform('parent',myaxes);

set(h, 'parent',combineobject)

drawnow;

while (get(button, 'value')==0)

[voltage]=readFSR(fsr);

mass = polyval(p1, voltage);

if (mass>0)

force=mass*9.81;

set(text1,'String',['Mass :' num2str(round(mass)) 'grams'])

set(text2,'String',['Force :' num2str(round(force)) 'N'])

translation = makehgtform('translate',[0 0 mass]);

set(combinedobject,'matrix',translation);

scaling=makehgtform('scale',mass/10);

set(combinedobject,'matrix',scaling);

set(combinedobject, 'natrix',translation*scaling);

end

pause(0.1);

end

closeSerial;

WHY THİS ERROR ?

Attempt to execute SCRIPT fsr as a function:

C:\Users\ismet\Desktop\fsr.m

Error in fsr (line 28)

m(i)=readFSR(fsr);

[Walter Roberson]

this is related to http://www.matlabarduino.org/force.html

The original code assigns the results of setting up the serial port to a variable named fsr.s but your code assigns to arduino.s but still expects fsr variable to have been assigned to.

Answer 10

[Anish Gunjal]

in my case, I got an error "Attempt to execute SCRIPT FILENAME as a function"? because one of my FILENAME in the folder is having the same name as a FUNCTION i was executing. I just renamed the FILENAME and the error was solved.

Answer 11

[ahsan meo]

clc

close all

clear all

x=[1 2 3];

y=[4 5 6];

c=polyfit(x,y,2)

this error will be come

Attempt to execute SCRIPT polyfit as a function:

D:\NC codes\polyfit.m

Error in vander (line 6)

c=polyfit(x,y,2)

>>

[Steven Lord]

You have written your own polyfit.m script file that takes precedence over the polyfit function included in MATLAB. Rename your script to something that is not already the name of a function in MATLAB (mypolyfit.m is a pretty safe choice.)

Answer 12

[ahsan meo]

clc

close all

clear all

x =[-2, -1, 2];

A = vander([-2, -1, 2]);

y = [-2 1 -1]';

c = A\y

these errors are come

Attempt to execute SCRIPT vander as a function:

D:\NC codes\vander.m

Error in Untitled111 (line 5)

A = vander([-2, -1, 2]);

[Steven Lord]

You have written your own vander.m script file that takes precedence over the vander function included in MATLAB. Rename your script to something that is not already the name of a function in MATLAB (myvander.m is a pretty safe choice.)

In general, don't use the name of a function already included in MATLAB as your script or function name.

[ali syal]

Please help


Function dx= backstepping(t,x)
z=x2-(-c1(x1));
x1dot=z-c1(x1);
zdot=u+c1(z-c1(x1));
x2=z-c1(x1);
x1=1;
c1=1;
v(x1,z)=x1^2/2+z^2/2;
vdot(x1,z)=-c1(x1^2)-z^2;
u=((c1^2)*(x1))-x1-(x2+(c1)*(x1)*(c+1));
dx=x1dot+zdot;

[t,x]=ode45(@backstepping,[1,10],2);
plot(t,x)
grid on



backstepping_s
Attempt to execute SCRIPT backstepping as a function:
/MATLAB Drive/backstepping.m

Error in odearguments (line 90)
f0 = feval(ode,t0,y0,args{:});   % ODE15I sets args{1} to yp0.

Error in ode45 (line 115)
  odearguments(FcnHandlesUsed, solver_name, ode, tspan, y0, options, varargin);

Error in backstepping_s (line 1)
[t,x]=ode45(@backstepping,[1,10],2);
 

[Walter Roberson]

Function is not correct you need function

[Steven Lord]

In addition to Walter's correction, don't try to call ode45 with @backstepping as its first input from within backstepping.m itself.