Invalid character code sequence detected. error using parfor on MATLAB2020b

I am on MacOS Big Sur matlab version 2020b. When I call parfor from a script it gives error message ": Invalid character code sequence detected.". When I looked a bit more I got the below message:

The list of cluster profiles failed to load and so they are unusable. To recover, check the reason and restart MATLAB.

Reason: Invalid character code sequence detected. Any idea how to solve this?

[Srinivasan Radhakrishnan]

I am facing the same issue while trying to open classification and regression app

[Sourabh Kondapaka]

Hi btskzn,

Before you run the script, can you check the cluster profile on which you are running the script is successfully

validated ? To check this :

Under Home tab, in the ENVIRONMENT section, click on Parallel and select Create and Manage clusters.

Select your cluster profile on which you intend to run your code, right click on it and choose Set as Default.

Now click on Validate button. If all stages pass, then try running your code again.

If any stage fails, update your question with a screenshot of failed stage along with the logs.

Along with it update the question with the code where the matlab throws an error.

[btskzn]

When I click on create and manage clusters I have this error message:

"Invalid character code sequence detected.

The list of cluster profiles failed to load and so they are unusable. To recover, check the reason and restart MATLAB.

Reason: Invalid character code sequence detected.

com.mathworks.mvm.exec.MvmRuntimeException: Dot indexing is not supported for variables of this type.

Error in ==> /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/toolbox/parallel/cluster/+parallel/+internal/+ui/AbstractValidationManager.m>AbstractValidationManager.AbstractValidationManager at 21

Error in ==> /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/toolbox/parallel/cluster/+parallel/+internal/+ui/ValidationManager.m>ValidationManager.ValidationManager at 48

Error in ==> /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/toolbox/parallel/cluster/+parallel/+internal/+ui/ValidationManager.m>ValidationManager.getOrCreateInstance at 23 "

Answer 1

[Priysha LNU]

Hi,

The first reason this issue can occur is if you are trying to run Parallel Computing Toolbox on a non-English local machine.

"Invalid character code sequence detected." usually means non-English characters are in a path or file name. Some potential paths that can cause this issue:

>> tempdir
>> prefdir
>> matlabroot
>> !hostname

Check those paths and make sure they do not contain non-English characters. If they do, change it and then you should be able to use the Cluster Profile Manager.

If you are still experiencing the issue after checking the paths, run the following command within the MATLAB command prompt:

>>parallel.Settings

If it returns the following message, this is a known issue with a fix still in the works.

Invalid character code sequence detected

The current workaround to resolve this is to downgrade to MATLAB R2020a.

Hope this helps!

DISCLAIMER: These are my own views and in no way depict those of MathWorks.

Answer 2

[James Meiss]

I have this problem with Matlab 2021b under MacOS 12.5.7.

I checked the hostname and paths. They have no non-English Characters (that I can discern).

When I run parallel.Settings, I get:

Warning: The following error was caught while executing 'parallel.internal.settings.NamedNodesCollection' class

destructor:

Error using parallel.internal.settings.CustomSettingsGetSet/get

Undefined function 'num2cell' for input arguments of type 'logical'.

Error in parallel.internal.settings.NamedNode/get.Name (line 112)

name = obj.get(parallel.internal.settings.NamedNode.AliasKeyName);

Error in parallel.settings.Profile/delete (line 104)

validator.deleteStatus(objOrObjs(ii).Name);

Error in parallel.internal.settings.NamedNode/hInvalidate (line 402)

delete(objOrObjs, 'invalidateOnly');

Error in parallel.internal.settings.NamedNodesCollection/delete (line 58)

obj.CachedNodes.hInvalidate();

Error in parallel.Settings/clearProperties (line 592)

obj.ProfilesCollection = [];

Error in parallel.Settings/delete (line 372)

obj.clearProperties();

Error in parallel.Settings (line 335)

obj.delete();

> In parallel/Settings/clearProperties (line 592)

In parallel/Settings/delete (line 372)

In parallel.Settings (line 335)

Incorrect number or types of inputs or outputs for function 'num2cell'.

Error in parallel.Settings (line 336)

throw(err);