Why do I receive "??? Error using ==> eval" when I start MATLAB?

I receive the following error when I start MATLAB:

 ??? Error using ==> eval

 Index exceeds matrix dimensions.

 Error in ==> C:\matlabr13\toolbox\local\initprefs.m

 On line 27  ==>             warning(['Could not evaluate '''all_prefspanels{i} ...

 Error in ==> C:\matlabr13\toolbox\local\matlabrc.m

 On line 162  ==>   initprefs

Additionally, it seems that my path is not set up correctly because I cannot use any MATLAB functions.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

One reason why this problem may occur is that you may have a "pathdef.m" file from a previous installation in the startup directory of MATLAB, that is, the current working directory when MATLAB launches.

The solution to this problem is to remove or rename the "pathdef.m" file in that startup directory.

Try typing the following within MATLAB:

which -all pathdef

The only "pathdef.m" file that should be on your path is $MATLABROOT/toolbox/local/pathdef.m, where $MATLABROOT denotes your root MATLAB directory. If you have more than one, rename the other files to something other than "pathdef.m".

For MATLAB users outside of the USA, an additional reason this may be occurring is the decimal separator issue. For more information on this topic, see the Related Solution.