command window no output

So something happened and my Matlab is no longer outputing results in the command window. Even if in the command windows I type '5*5' and hit enter, it just gives me a new lines, it does not output the results. And no, there is no semicolon after it. Error messages are not displaying there, pretty much nothing. Tried restarting several times too. Any ideas?

[Paul Barrette]

I had the same problem as what @Shane Sullivan is describing. I spent 1-2 hours searching for an answer before finding this one (most others were about using a ';' or not, which was not relevant to my case). Coincidentally, I had to upload a new version of Matlab (2023b). Which I did - that solved the problem.

[Walter Roberson]

Was MATLAB processing the commands? For example if you typed in a graphics command would the graphics be produced? If you typed in a for loop, was it taking time to execute the loop even if nothing was being displayed?

I am trying to distinguish here between "was not executing the commands" and "was executing the commands but no output" (and, I suppose, "was executing the commands and screen scrolled about as many lines as you would expect, but nothing of the output was visible -- such as could happen with a font problem)

Answer 1

[Shane Sullivan]

Not sure what exactly was the problem, but I did the total reset function described by Jan here: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1093-how-do-i-reset-matlab-to-its-launched-state

After running it and restarting, command window works.

[Adam Danz]

I've never used "!matlab &", what does that do? Is there any documentation on that?

The quit command is the same as exit but has some input options.

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

[Image Analyst]

The exclamation point runs the stuff after it as if you had typed in into a console window of the operating system.

[Adam Danz]

Oh, thanks! I didn't know that.

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

I'd call tech support.

https://matlab.fandom.com/wiki/FAQ#After_installation.2C_MATLAB_crashes_or_gives_an_error_message_when_I_try_to_run_MATLAB.

It will be a fast and free fix if you just call them.

[Shane Sullivan]

This is not relevant to my question and seems a little snarky too. I did search first and did not see anyone with the exact same problem and similiar problems solutions did not work...

[Image Analyst]

Too bad you thought it was snarky. If you had called, you'd have it working by now. Since you won't for some reason, you can wait and wait until you have someone post an answer that works. But since no one has ever had the problem before, at least that posted here, you might be waiting a long time. Just curious, what is the reason you refuse to call tech support? Like I said, it's fast and free.

[Shane Sullivan]

My apologizes if I misinterperted your response.

[Image Analyst]

In case anyone else has that problem, it would be nice for them if you came back here and tell us what tech support's solution was, even if it was to just uninstall and re-install. Thanks in advance.

Answer 3

[Jan]

Check if you have shadowed the display function:

w = cellstring(which('display', '-all'));
fprintf('%s\n', w{:})

What do you see?

Maybe fprintf is impeded also. Then:

file = fullfile(tempdir, 'myOutput.txt');
fid  = fopen(file, 'w');
fprintf(fid, '%s\n', w{:});
fclose(fid)
edit(file)

[Shane Sullivan]

Jan, none of those results in any output to the command console either.

[Jan]

The 2nd code writes the needed output to a file, not to the command window. It would help to analyse your problem, if you post the contents of this file.

Did you create a function called "display.m"?

[Shane Sullivan]

The file also has nothing in it. It is blank. No, I did not create a function called display.m either.