Why am I encountering the warning "Function xyz has the same name as a MATLAB built-in"?

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The MATLAB Command Window displays the following warning: 
Warning: Function xyz has the same name as a MATLAB built-in. We suggest you rename the function to avoid a potential name conflict. 
Why do I get this warning message? 

Accepted Answer

MathWorks Support Team
MathWorks Support Team on 12 Mar 2024 at 0:00
Edited: MathWorks Support Team about 14 hours ago
This warning tends to appear when there are custom functions that share the same name as built-in MATLAB functions. It can also arise if there are multiple MATLAB installations on the system path, therefore causing duplicate built-in functions with the same name. This can cause warnings, errors, and/or unexpected behaviors in MATLAB. 
 
Please follow the steps listed below to resolve the warning and other potentially related issues: 
 
1. Execute the following command in the MATLAB Command Window. Please note that you need to replace <function_name> with the actual function name displayed in the warning message. The “which -all” command displays the paths to all items on the MATLAB path with that given name. 
>> which -all <function_name>
This list should only contain MATLAB built-ins, which can either be marked as “built-in”, or contained in a MATLAB toolbox with a path similar to the following: 
C:\Program Files\MATLAB\<matlab_release>\toolbox\<more_path_specifics>\<function_name>.m 
 
2. If there are any custom <function_name> functions, please rename them and restart MATLAB to resolve the warning. 
 
3. If there are <function_name> entries from other versions of MATLAB, please run the following commands in the MATLAB Command Window to restore the search path and rehash the toolbox cache. 
>> restoredefaultpath
>> rehash toolboxcache
4. Save the path for future sessions of MATLAB by running the following command in the MATLAB Command Window. 
>> savepath

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