Explanation

In the absence of an explicit assignment to an identifier, MATLAB interprets an identifier as a variable if you index into it with a colon, curly braces, or the end keyword. If you use the identifier in a function handle or in command syntax, MATLAB interprets it as a function.


Suggested Action

To ensure MATLAB correctly interprets identifiers as variables, explicitly declare or assign to variables. For example, consider the following function.

function myFun ()
    load data.mat; % Loads all variables, including x.
    disp(x(:)) 
end

In myFun, MATLAB interprets x as a variable because it is indexed with a colon in the disp call. However, that might change in a future release. To ensure x is used as a variable, explicitly define it. For example, load the specific variable x or initialize it.

function myFun ()
    load data.mat x; % Loads x.
    disp(x(:))
end
 		function myFun ()
    x = [];        % Initializes x.
    load data.mat; % Loads all variables.
    disp(x(:))
end