MATLAB editor shows files have no contents (blank)

Hello,

When I try to open an m-file or script in the editor, it opens up blank. The file, however, is clearly not empty - I can open it with a generic text editor and the code appears fine. This also happens if I try to create a new script in the editor. The editor opens a new 'untitled' file, but I can not enter any text in the editor.

I am running R2022b on an Apple M1 Max macOS 13.1

thanks

[GGWB]

This issue crosses platforms. I'm running R2021b on Linux (RHEL 8), HP Z6, with Nvidia graphics and also see this. I had no such issue on this box with R2019b and may have to revert, although 19b is missing some needed toolbox upgrades for me.

[mathieu perton]

Same happening in Centos, any matlab version from 2021.

[Frederike Petzschner]

Same issue on a IMac on three different Matlab Versions (2021, 2022b, 2023a).

Onyly happens for .m filed not .mlx

Files opens fine on a MacBook Air. How can I solve the issue?

[MUhammad Awais]

Hi

This happens to me when I am trying to open a file from the cloud storage which was not yet fully synced to the mac storage. However, there was not any issue after that (when sync complete and files are locally available; note the cloud sign beneath the file when it is not locally available).

[Evg]

Same problem with 2024b Apple Silicon (Local Files) :(((

Is there any way to escalate this to their engineering ?

[Frederike Petzschner]

@MUhammad Awais that solved it for me! Thank you!

Answer 1

[Dvarkesh Madhu]

Hi Daniel,

1. Are you trying to open the .m file as a live script?

In that case, save .m as a UTF-8 format, or save it as a live script code(.MLX).

2. Or are you connecting to MATLAB via remote desktop applications? In that case, try starting MATLAB using the "-cefdisablegpu" flag from your system command prompt:

matlab -cefdisablegpu

3. Another thing you can try is to update your graphics driver and see if that resolves the issue.

4. Or start MATLAB using the”-softwareopengl” flag from your system command prompt:

matlab -softwareopengl

If the issue still persists, feel free to contact our Technical Support team for further assistance.

Hope this helps!

[Daniel]

Thanks for the response.

My issues seemed to resolve themselves after a couple days and a few reboots of my machine. I never tried to open the files as live scripts or was I using remote desktop applications.

It was an unfortunate behavior - hope it does not occur again.

[Walter Roberson]

You cannot update your graphics driver in any recent version of MacOS, except by installing the latest MacOS security patch (if it just happens to have a driver update). Apple moved graphics drivers down a ring in security, and now insists that third-party graphics drivers be bundled in each application rather than being installed system-wide... and MacOS does not provide any separate update process for the system supplied drivers.

It would not be unreasonable to suspect that the intent of the change in driver implementation was to drive Nvidia out of the Mac market. This of course would not be the official rationale, but if you look at the history of the relationship between Nvidia and Apple, with multiple anonymous sources supposedly saying that very high level Apple executives ordered engineering not to approve any new Nvidia drivers...

[Norbert]

samie issue in 2024a on win, really annoying

only the -cefdisablegpu works as i am aiming to train models on the gpu this solution is really useless

Answer 2

[Evg]

I have exactly same problem. Very frequently when i open Matlab 2022b (same was for 2021 and 2023a) all previosly open .m files appear blank. The only solution is to quit matlab, delete the ~/Library/Application Support/MathWorks/MATLAB/R2022b and start again. This is very frustrating (especially giving license price of Matlab) looks like a clear Matlab bug (otherwise deleting the R2022b folder would not help)

Also i see same problem is reported here:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1804630-existing-matlab-files-opening-blank-on-m1-macbook-pro

Using Macos 13.2.1 on M1 Max

[Geoff Martin]

Same problem here with R2022b Beta and R2023a on a MacBook Pro (16", 2021, M1) running 13.4.1.

For me, the problem is intermittent. Sometimes, quitting and re-starting solves the issue. Sometimes it helps to wait long enough to get a coffee between quitting and re-starting...

Thanks for the suggestion regarding deleting the ~/Library/... directory. I'll use that next time if I've already gotten a coffee.

[Tim]

Here it is 2024, and I still have this problem with my trial version. This doesn't exactly make me want to recommend this product to Mac developers.

But the above fix worked.

[MUhammad Awais]

I am facing the same issue... I switched to mac and now.....

[Jorge Moura]

I am working on a windows 10 machine and have exactly the same problem in R2024a. Both with .m and .mlx files. For me it just happened in this version, previous Matlab versions worked fine in this regard.

I can't find ~/Library/Application Support/MathWorks/MATLAB/R2022b

Sometimes it just takes a long time for the editor window to exit this state and the code to appear, other times just by opening externally the file, and this is not a fix since not always opens the file correctly.

Any new ideas how to correct this bug?

[Walter Roberson]

@Jorge Moura

~/Library/Application Support/MathWorks/MATLAB/R2022b is a MacOS specific location. It corresponds to what would be returned by

prefdir()

ans = '/tmp/.matlab/prefdir'

[Murray Wolinsky]

@Evg 's solution -- delete /Library/Application Support/MathWorks/MATLAB/R2021a (for me) -- worked for me. (And @Jorge Moura advice is good to know -- for when I move to Linux.)

Thank you!

MacBook Air, M1, 2020 running macOS Sonoma 14.6.1

Murray

[Meagan Lang]

In case it is helpful for debugging or for anyone who does not want to remove the entire preferences directory, deleting just the history files in that directory (output from prefdir()) worked for me (R2024b on Mac M1 Pro running Sonoma 14.4.1).