`localfunctions` inside a package

Question

localfunctions returns function handles to all the local functions in an m-file. However, this doesn't work in a package. For example, the following code saved as 'a.m' runs fine:

function fs = a()
    fs = localfunctions;
end

function babo()
end

function hidden()
end

Called from MATLAB console:

>> a()

ans = 

    @babo  
    @hidden

But when it is inside a package as '+aaa/b.m', I get nothing:

>> aaa.b()

ans = 

     {}

I don't think this behavior is well documented. How do I overcome this? I need to use localfunctions to unit test some functions within the package and I don't want to keep it outside of the package just because of this.

Answer 1

One solution would be to import the package before calling localfunctions:

+mypkg/mytest.m

function f = mytest()
    import mypkg.*
    f = localfunctions;
end

function foo()
end

function bar()
end

When called:

>> f = mypkg.mytest()
f = 
    @foo
    @bar

>> functions(f{1})
ans = 
     function: 'foo'
         type: 'scopedfunction'
         file: 'C:\Users\Amro\Desktop\+mypkg\mytest.m'
    parentage: {'foo'  'mytest'}