Matlab will not create files using edit command

Question

When I enter

edit somenewfile.m

in my Matlab R2010a command window it gives me this error

??? Error using ==> edit at 57
Neither 'somenewfile' nor 'somenewfile.m' could be found.

On my other computer with R2012a at work, this same command works and creates a new file. Is there something different about 2010?

I tried fiddling around with edit.m for a little while, but I'm afraid I'm going to mess something up. Here is the part it is failing in

try
if (nargin == 0)
    openEditor;
else
    for i = 1:nargin
        argName = translateUserHomeDirectory(strtrim(varargin{i}));
        if isempty(argName)
            openEditor;
        else
            checkEndsWithBadExtension(argName);

            if ~openInPrivateOfCallingFile(argName)
                if ~openOperator(argName)
                    if ~openWithFileSystem(argName, ~isSimpleFile(argName))
                        if ~openPath(argName)
                            showEmptyFile(argName);
                        end
                    end
                end
            end
        end
    end
end
catch exception
    throw(exception); % throw so that we don't display stack trace
end

at ShowEmptyFile while looks like

%--------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Helper function that displays an empty file -- taken from the previous edit.m
% Now passes error message to main function for display through error.
function showEmptyFile(file)
errMessage = '';
errID = '';

% If nothing is found in the MATLAB workspace or directories,
% open a blank buffer only if:
%   1) the given file is a simple filename (contains no qualifying 
%      directories, i.e. foo.m) 
%   OR 
%   2) the given file's directory portion exists (note that to get into 
%      this method it is implied that the file portion does not exist)
%      (i.e. myDir/foo.m, where myDir exists and foo.m does not).
[path fileNameWithoutExtension extension] = fileparts(file);

if isSimpleFile(file) || (exist(path, 'dir') == 7)

    % build the file name with extension.
    if isempty(extension) 
        extension = '.m';
    end
    fileName = [fileNameWithoutExtension extension];

    % make sure the given file name is valid.
    checkValidName(fileName);

    % if the path is empty then use the current working directory.
    % else use the fully resolved version of the given path.
    if (strcmp(path, ''))
       path = pwd;
    else
        whatStruct = what(path);
        path = whatStruct.path;
    end

    if (isempty(checkJavaAvailable) ...
            && com.mathworks.mde.editor.EditorOptions.getShowNewFilePrompt == false ...
            && com.mathworks.mde.editor.EditorOptions.getNamedBufferOption == ...
                com.mathworks.mde.editor.EditorOptions.NAMEDBUFFER_DONTCREATE ...
            && com.mathworks.mde.editor.EditorOptions.getBuiltinEditor ~= 0)
        [errMessage, errID] = showFileNotFound(file, false);
    else
        openEditor(fullfile(path,fileName));
    end
else
    [errMessage, errID] = showFileNotFound(file, false);
end
handleError(errMessage, errID);

Perhaps I have a bad edit.m? Or There was a setting that caused a new edit.m with code to throw an error? Any ideas?

Answer 1

I get the same error message in 2010a (line 57 of edit.m) if I edit a non-existent file after unchecking the following option:

File -> Preferences -> General -> Confirmation Dialogs -> Prompt when editing files that do not exist

With that it mind, it sounds like you don't have that option enabled?