Why do I get Error: Subscript indices real positive integers/logicals?

I have a function that calculates the gap/overlap between two spheres. The spheres can have either the format [x,y,z,r] or [x;y;z;r], so I included some code at the beginning to bring them both to the same format. The rest is a rather simple distance calculation.

This worked fine up to now, no matter which of the two input formats I used for input. However, for some reason this has stopped working (at all, no matter which format i use) and I keep getting the message "Subscript indices must either be real positive integers or logicals."

Here is my code:

function [ distance ] = distcheck( sph1, sph2 )
%DISTCHECK calculates ->real<- distance between spheres (gap+ or overlap-)
[size11, size12] = size(sph1);
if size11 == 4;
    sph1 = sph1.';
end
[size21, size22] = size(sph2);
if size21 == 4;
    sph2 = sph2.';
end

distsq = sum( (sph2(1:3)-sph1(1:3)).^2) - (sph1(4) + sph2(4))^2;

if distsq < 0;
    distdir = -1;
else
    distdir = 1;
end

distance = distdir*sqrt(abs(distsq));

end

example spheres (so you can run it easily):

% example 1: 
sph1 = [-0.2357;0.3639;0.3399;0.250]; 
sph2 = [-0.1611,0.1500,0.0420,0.01500];
% example 2: 
sph1 = [-0.2357;0.3639;0.3399;0.250]; 
sph2 = [-0.1611;0.1500;0.0420;0.01500];
% example 3: 
sph1 = [-0.2357,0.3639,0.3399,0.250]; 
sph2 = [-0.1611;0.1500;0.0420;0.01500];
% example 4: 
sph1 = [1,1,1,1]; sph2 = [1,1,2.5,1];
% example 5:
sph1 = [1;1;1;1]; sph2 = [1;1;2.5;1];
% example 6: 
sph1 = [1,1,1,1]; sph2 = [1;1;2.5;1];

No matter which of them I use, I get the error. If I copy-paste each step from the function and run it manually, I get a valid result. What am I missing?

Edit: Whole error message and iputs causing them:

>> sph1 = [-0.2357;0.3639;0.3399;0.250]; 
sph2 = [-0.1611,0.1500,0.0420,0.01500];
>> distcheck(sph1,sph2)
Subscript indices must
either be real positive
integers or logicals.

Edit2: It seems to work when I clean up my workspace but my main script keeps triggering the error message.

Subscript indices must either be real
positive integers or logicals.

Error in testscript (line
116)
                distn2 =
                distcheck(sphn,cont2);

with

sphn = [-3.065361088086432e-06;5.050735062465379e-05;1.250955109092040e-05;2.500000000000000e-05];
cont2 = [-1.081620971550675e-06 1.500000000000000e-05 1.797244470458586e-05 1.500000000000000e-05];

Edit3: Found the problem, I somehow created a variable called "distcheck" (same as the function name).

[Star Strider]

• What line throws the error?
• What sizes are sph1 and sph2 when it occurs?

BTW, you can do away with your first two if blocks. If you want sph1 and sph2 to be row vectors, simply state them as:

sph1 = sph1(:)';
sph2 = sph2(:)';

[mosch]

I edited the error message into the main post.

Thanks for the information, I'll use this to clean up a lot of my other code (got the if statements in different functions)!

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

Post your exact error message - you forgot to do so, you just snipped out a small chunk of it. I ran your code in the attached file, and it ran fine with no errors whatsoever . Moreover, I don't see anything that should cause such an error.

[mosch]

Thanks for confirming that the code seems to be ok in and of itself. I edited the error message into the bottom of my original post.

After deleting all workspace variables it seems to work as well O.o My main script, however, produces lots of workspace variables. I wonder which ones could cause the problem...

[mosch]

The problem was in a variable I mistakenly created with the same name as the function. Your answer was helpful in finding that :)

Thank you!