MATLAB: Trouble with callback with uimenus

callbackerrorrecursion limituimenu

function startup
File = uimenu(fig,'Label','File');
Message = uimenu(File,'Label','Message','Callback',@display);
end
function display(hObj,event)
disp('Hello world')
end
When this runs through and I click on the menu I get an error saying the following:
Maximum recursion limit of 500 reached. Use set(0,'RecursionLimit',N)
to change the limit. Be aware that exceeding your available stack space can
crash MATLAB and/or your computer.
Error in CreatingMenus>display
Error while evaluating uimenu Callback
Am I missing something really obvious?

Best Answer

Yes, you are missing something more or less obvious: When a line does not end with an semicolon, the built-in function display() is called to show the results in the command window. When you shadow the original display() function with a user-defined one, this function is called. And when it contains a line without a trailing semi-colon, it calls itself recursively.
Shadowing built-in function is a problem frequently. Therefore I'd avoid names like "display" and "startup" might lead to unexpected effects also.
Btw. you can investigate such problems by using the debugger. Set a breakpoint in the code and step through the program line by line. Then you can find out, where the recursion appears.
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