See the accepted answer to this related question: Multiple functions in one .m file, but the upshot is that unfortunately you cannot do what you're trying to.
I actually have been in a similar situation recently and there are two main options that I was able to identify:
- Convert the functions to classes. Then you can create a "unit_tests" function that you can call
- Change the function that has the same name as the file (e.g., if your file is named "complicated_stuff.m" the function header would look like function output = complicated_stuff([args]) to use varargin. Then do potentially horribly inelegant stuff to check the number of inputs and redirect to a unit_tests function at the bottom.
