--- a/scripts/help/doc_cache_create.m
+++ b/scripts/help/doc_cache_create.m
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
   if (isempty (directory))
     cache = gen_builtin_cache ();
   elseif (iscell (directory))
-    if (all (cellfun (@ischar, directory)))
+    if (all (cellfun ("isclass", directory, "char")))
       cache = gen_doc_cache_in_dir (directory);
     else
       error ("doc_cache_create: cell must contain only strings");
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
 
   ## For each function:
   for n = 1:length (list)
-    f = list {n};
+    f = list{n};
 
     ## Get help text
     [text, format] = get_help_text (f);
@@ -108,9 +108,9 @@
     endif
 
     ## Store the help text
-    cache (1, end+1) = f;
-    cache (2, end) = text;
-    cache (3, end) = first_sentence;
+    cache(1, end+1) = f;
+    cache(2, end) = text;
+    cache(3, end) = first_sentence;
   endfor
 endfunction
 
@@ -127,19 +127,19 @@
 
   ## add them
   if (! isempty (dirs_notpath))
-    cellfun (@addpath, dirs_notpath);
+    addpath (dirs_notpath{:});
   endif
 
   ## create cache
   func = @(s_) create_cache (__list_functions__ (s_));
-  cache = cellfun (func, directory, 'UniformOutput', false);
+  cache = cellfun (func, directory, "UniformOutput", false);
 
   ## concatenate results
   cache = [cache{:}];
 
   ## remove dirs form path
   if (! isempty (dirs_notpath))
-    cellfun (@rmpath, dirs_notpath);
+    rmpath (dirs_notpath{:});
   endif
 
 endfunction

--- a/scripts/image/imformats.m
+++ b/scripts/image/imformats.m
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@
   ## the minimal list of fields required in the structure. We don't
   ## require multipage because it doesn't exist in matlab
   min_fields  = {"ext", "read", "isa", "write", "info", "alpha", "description"};
-  fields_mask = cellfun (@(x) isfield (format, x), min_fields);
+  fields_mask = isfield (format, min_fields);
   if (! all (fields_mask))
     error ("imformats: structure has missing field `%s'.", min_fields(! fields_mask){1});
   endif

--- a/scripts/image/private/__imread__.m
+++ b/scripts/image/private/__imread__.m
@@ -79,9 +79,9 @@
   endif
 
   ## Check key/value options.
-  indexes = find (cellfun (@(x) ischar (x) ...
-                                && any (strcmpi (x, {"frames", "index"})),
-                           varargin));
+  indexes = cellfun ("isclass", varargin, "char");
+  indexes(indexes) &= ismember (varargin(indexes), {"frames", "index"});
+  indexes = find (indexes);
   if (indexes)
     options.index = varargin{indexes+1};
     if (! (is_valid_index_option (options.index)) &&

--- a/scripts/miscellaneous/what.m
+++ b/scripts/miscellaneous/what.m
@@ -63,13 +63,13 @@
       [dummy, f, e] = fileparts (n);
       if (strcmp (e, ".m"))
         w.m{end+1} = n;
-      elseif (strcmp (e, mexext ()))
-        w.mex{end+1} = n;
       elseif (strcmp (e, ".oct"))
         w.oct{end+1} = n;
+      elseif (strcmp (e, mexext ()))
+        w.mex{end+1} = n;
       elseif (strcmp (e, ".mat"))
         w.mat{end+1} = n;
-      elseif(strcmp (n(1), "@"))
+      elseif (strcmp (n(1), "@"))
         w.classes{end+1} = n;
       endif
     endif

--- a/scripts/pkg/private/rebuild.m
+++ b/scripts/pkg/private/rebuild.m
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
     wd = pwd ();
     unwind_protect
       cd (prefix);
-      dirlist = glob (cellfun(@(x) [x '-*'], files, 'uniformoutput', 0));
+      dirlist = glob (strcat (files, '-*'));
     unwind_protect_cleanup
       cd (wd);
     end_unwind_protect

--- a/scripts/plot/axis.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/axis.m
@@ -339,8 +339,8 @@
     data = cellfun (@(x) x(isfinite (x)), data, "uniformoutput", false);
     data = data(! cellfun ("isempty", data));
     if (! isempty (data))
-      lims_min = min (cellfun (@(x) min (x(:)), data(:)));
-      lims_max = max (cellfun (@(x) max (x(:)), data(:)));
+      lims_min = min ([data{:}](:));
+      lims_max = max ([data{:}](:));
       lims = [lims_min, lims_max];
     else
       lims = [0, 1];

--- a/scripts/plot/pareto.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/pareto.m
@@ -70,19 +70,18 @@
     print_usage ();
   endif
 
-  x = varargin {1}(:).';
+  x = varargin{1}(:).';
   if (nargin == 2)
-    y = varargin {2}(:).';
+    y = varargin{2}(:).';
     if (! iscell (y))
       if (ischar (y))
         y = cellstr (y);
       else
-        y = cellfun ("num2str", num2cell (y), "uniformoutput", false);
+        y = cellstr (num2str (y(:)));
       endif
     endif
   else
-    y = cellfun ("int2str", num2cell (1 : numel (x)),
-                 "uniformoutput", false);
+    y = cellstr (int2str ([1:numel(x)]'));
   endif
 
   [x, idx] = sort (x, "descend");

--- a/scripts/plot/private/__gnuplot_print__.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__gnuplot_print__.m
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@
 function eps_drawnow (opts, epsfile, gp_opts)
   [h, fontsize] = get_figure_text_objs (opts);
   unwind_protect
-    fontsize_2x = cellfun (@(x) 2*x, fontsize, "uniformoutput", false);
+    fontsize_2x = cellfun (@times, {2}, fontsize, "uniformoutput", false);
     set (h, {"fontsize"}, fontsize_2x);
     local_drawnow (["postscript eps " gp_opts], epsfile, opts);
   unwind_protect_cleanup

--- a/scripts/plot/private/__line__.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__line__.m
@@ -113,7 +113,6 @@
         || (nvecpts != 0 && any (nvecpts != cellfun ("size", tmp, 1))))
       error ("line: data size_mismatch");
     endif
-
     data_args(mask) = cellfun (@(x) x(:,i), data(ismat),
                                "uniformoutput", false);
 

--- a/scripts/plot/private/__patch__.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__patch__.m
@@ -210,13 +210,14 @@
 endfunction
 
 function args = delfields (args, flds)
-  idx = cellfun (@(x) any (strcmpi (x, flds)), args);
+  idx = cellfun ("isclass", args, "char");
+  idx(idx) = ismember (args(idx), flds);
   if (rows (idx) == 1)
-    idx = idx | [false, idx(1:end-1)];
+    idx |= [false, idx(1:end-1)];
   else
-    idx = idx | [false; idx(1:end-1)];
+    idx |= [false; idx(1:end-1)];
   endif
-  args (idx) = [];
+  args(idx) = [];
 endfunction
 
 function args = setdata (args)

--- a/scripts/plot/struct2hdl.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/struct2hdl.m
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
     p = p(1:2, 1:(tst(end)-1));
   endif
 
-  ## Place the "*mode" properties as the end to avoid having the updaters
+  ## Place the "*mode" properties at the end to avoid having the updaters
   ## change the mode to "manual" when the value is "auto".
   names = fieldnames (s.properties);
   n = strncmp (cellfun (@fliplr, names, "uniformoutput", false), "edom", 4);
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@
   hid = {"autopos_tag", "looseinset"};
   oldfields = fieldnames (props);
   curfields = fieldnames (get (h));
-  missing = cellfun (@(x) !any (strcmp (x, curfields)), oldfields);
+  missing = ! ismember (oldfields, curfields);
   idx = find (missing);
   for ii = 1:length (idx)
     prop = oldfields{idx(ii)};

--- a/scripts/polynomial/splinefit.m
+++ b/scripts/polynomial/splinefit.m
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
 
 function pp = splinefit (x, y, breaks, varargin)
   if (nargin > 3)
-    n = cellfun (@ischar, varargin, "uniformoutput", true);
+    n = cellfun ("isclass", varargin, "char");
     varargin(n) = lower (varargin(n));
     try
       props = struct (varargin{:});

--- a/scripts/special-matrix/gallery.m
+++ b/scripts/special-matrix/gallery.m
@@ -2464,7 +2464,7 @@
     error ("gallery: 1 to 6 arguments are required for toeppen matrix.");
   elseif (! isnumeric (n) || ! isscalar (n) || fix (n) != n)
     error ("gallery: N must be a numeric integer for toeppen matrix.");
-  elseif (any (cellfun (@(x) ! isnumeric (x) || ! isscalar (x), {a b c d e})))
+  elseif (any (! cellfun ("isnumeric", {a b c d e})) || any (cellfun ("numel", {a b c d e}) != 1))
     error ("gallery: A, B, C, D and E must be numeric scalars for toeppen matrix.");
   endif
 

--- a/scripts/strings/strsplit.m
+++ b/scripts/strings/strsplit.m
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@
     else
       del = do_string_escapes (del);
     endif
-    % This is clumsy, but needed for multi-row strings
+    ## This is clumsy, but needed for multi-row strings
     del = regexprep (del, '([^\w])', '\\$1');
   endif
 

--- a/scripts/strings/untabify.m
+++ b/scripts/strings/untabify.m
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
   if (ischar (t))
     s = replace_tabs (t, tw);
   else
-    s = cellfun (@(str) replace_tabs (str, tw), t, "uniformoutput", false);
+    s = cellfun (@replace_tabs, t, {tw}, "uniformoutput", false);
   endif
 
   if (dblank)

--- a/scripts/testfun/__run_test_suite__.m
+++ b/scripts/testfun/__run_test_suite__.m
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@
 endfunction
 
 function n = num_elts_matching_pattern (lst, pat)
-  n = sum (cellfun (@(x) !isempty (x), regexp (lst, pat, 'once')));
+  n = sum (! cellfun ("isempty", regexp (lst, pat, 'once')));
 endfunction
 
 function report_files_with_no_tests (with, without, typ)

--- a/scripts/ui/inputdlg.m
+++ b/scripts/ui/inputdlg.m
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
 
   if (iscell (prompt))
     ## Silently extract only char elements
-    prompt = prompt(cellfun ("ischar", prompt));
+    prompt = prompt(cellfun ("isclass", prompt, "char"));
   elseif (ischar (prompt))
     prompt = {prompt};
   else