function acts differently in command window to when its run in a .m file.

Hello, so I'm having this problem with the exist command.

I have a program PlotDep.m which uses a function getFileName.m to get a file name, next I check to see if the filename exists which works and that works fine. I want to run PlotDep.m several times over so I turned it into a function and created a new program to run and get a batch of plots, this file is called covarianceBatch.m.

When I run the covarianceBatch.m it is supposed to run the

PlotDep(mode(a), sampleTime(b), model(c), height(d))

function over and over again but I get the error

Undefined function or method 'exist' for input arguments of type 'cell'
  end

which corresponds to the lines of code in PlotDep.m

filename = getFileName(radar, sYear, sMonth, sDay, model);

if exist(filename, 'file');

if i run

PlotDep(mode(a), sampleTime(b), model(c), height(d))

in the command window it works fine? Any idea why this could be?

[Star Strider]

I suggest you explore the documentation for the ‘which’ function: http://www.mathworks.com/help/techdoc/ref/which.html. It may provide you with the information you want.

If your ‘PlotDep.m’ file isn't too long, please post all of it.

I can't find any information on the ‘getFileName’ function. If you wrote it, you need to post the code for it as well.

Answer 1

[Wayne King]

What is getFileName returning? We need to know what that looks like

For example, if you run it from the command line

>>filename = getFileName(radar, sYear, sMonth, sDay, model);
>> whos filename

returns what?

Depending on what that returns, you may be able to fix your code with

   if exist(char(filename), 'file')

Answer 2

[Oleg Komarov]

As the error message suggests, one of the inputs to the exist function is probably a cell type.

In the cmd window type

dbstop if error

then run the covarianceBatch and check the inputs once it errors.

Finally,

dbclear if error

to reset.

Answer 3

[Star Strider]

I suggest you explore the documentation for the ‘which’ function: http://www.mathworks.com/help/techdoc/ref/which.html. It may provide you with the information you want.

If your ‘PlotDep.m’ file isn't too long, please post all of it.

I can't find any information on the ‘getFileName’ function. If you wrote it, you need to post the code for it as well.