Error compiling mex with R2013b in OSX 10.9

Hi everyone, I want to get started using mex files so I started reading a book on it and can't even get the very first examples to compile. The code is below.

------------------------------------------------------

#include "mex.h"

void mexFunction(int nlhs, mxArray* plhs[], int nrhs, const mxArray *prhs[])

{

mexPrintf("Hello, mex!\n");

}

------------------------------------------------------

And I get the following error message.

------------------------------------------------------

In file included from helloMex.cpp:1:

In file included from /Applications/MATLAB_R2013b.app/extern/include/mex.h:58:

In file included from /Applications/MATLAB_R2013b.app/extern/include/matrix.h:252:

/Applications/MATLAB_R2013b.app/extern/include/tmwtypes.h:831:9: error: 

        unknown type name 'char16_t'
  typedef char16_t CHAR16_T;
          ^
  1 error generated.

      mex: compile of ' "helloMex.cpp"' failed.

------------------------------------------------------

I am running MATLAB 2013b under OS X 10.9 and I have Xcode 5.1 beta 5 installed. I'm wondering if this is a bug due to the beta version of Xcode, but I was wondering if anyone else has seen this problem. Any thoughts welcome.

[Ken Atwell]

A stab in the dark: If you rename HelloMex.cpp to HelloMex.c (that is, C compilation rather then C++), what happens?

[Bob]

A different question up here at TMW Answers related to compilation issues suggested downgrading Xcode to v5.02, from 5.1. I just did this (MATLAB 2012b and OS X 10.9.2) and ... it worked. Old versions are in: developer.apple.com/ Good luck!

Answer 1

[Jon C]

Rather than downgrading Xcode, there are a few solutions listed on this page. The first thing to try if you can use C++ rather than just C is to add

 -std=c++11

to CXXFLAGS in your current mexopts.sh.

Or if you have to use C only or can't enable C++11, try one of the alternative solutions given here. One way that seems to work is adding this to the `mex` command line:

 -Dchar16_t=UINT16_T

[Tarek]

This worked for me! thanks!

Answer 2

[David]

Thanks everyone. I have actually given up on mex and am re-writing the entire program in C++ instead.