Bar function examples do not work

I was having an issue with the bar function, where it would return either the error "Subscript indices must either be real positive integers or logicals" or "Index exceeds matrix dimensions."

To make sure everything was running okay, I copied and pasted one of the examples from "help bar" and entered it:

subplot(3,1,2), bar(0:.25:1,rand(5),1) and I get the following response from MATLAB:

Warning: Integer operands are required for colon operator when
used as index 
Subscript indices must either be real positive integers or
logicals.

Now, I'm not really sure where to go from here short of completely reinstalling MATLAB.

Any suggestions? I've already tried restarting MATLAB/rebooting my computer.

Thanks!

EDIT: When I first start MATLAB, the bar function example works correctly. Then, after I import old data, the example bar function no longer works.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

My guess is that you have a variable named bar in your dataset. Therefore, instead of calling the function bar(), MATLAB is trying to index into a variable named bar.

Avoid naming variables with MATLAB keywords.

[Matthew]

I feel a little bad for asking this now since it just boiled down to such a simple problem... thanks!

Answer 2

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

Probably you've used bar as a variable. Try this

clear bar
subplot(3,1,2),
bar(0:.25:1,rand(5),1)