diff --git a/deploy/packaging/debian/matlab.noarch b/deploy/packaging/debian/matlab.noarch
index cf2b52d47d..1bb4e10987 100644
--- a/deploy/packaging/debian/matlab.noarch
+++ b/deploy/packaging/debian/matlab.noarch
@@ -1,17 +1,21 @@
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/matlab2python.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/MDSarg.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/MDSplusAPI.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/NATIVEvalue.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsInfo.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUseLegacy.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUsePython.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsclose.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsconnect.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsdisconnect.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsgetmsg.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsInfo.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsopen.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/MDSplusAPI.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsput.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdstcl.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdstest.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUseLegacy.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUsePython.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsvalue.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/NATIVEvalue.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/PyExecute.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/python2matlab.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/setPython.m
diff --git a/deploy/packaging/redhat/matlab.noarch b/deploy/packaging/redhat/matlab.noarch
index 564908cecf..1bb4e10987 100644
--- a/deploy/packaging/redhat/matlab.noarch
+++ b/deploy/packaging/redhat/matlab.noarch
@@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/matlab2python.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/MDSarg.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/MDSplusAPI.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/NATIVEvalue.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsInfo.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUseLegacy.m
-./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUsePython.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsclose.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsconnect.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsdisconnect.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsgetmsg.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsInfo.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsopen.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/MDSplusAPI.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsput.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdstcl.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdstest.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUseLegacy.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsUsePython.m
 ./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/mdsvalue.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/NATIVEvalue.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/PyExecute.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/python2matlab.m
+./usr/local/mdsplus/matlab/setPython.m
diff --git a/matlab/PyExecute.m b/matlab/PyExecute.m
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..e82f78a59a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/matlab/PyExecute.m
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+function [ result] = PyExecute( expression, varargin)
+% PyExecute evaluate an expression
+%   [ result, status ] = mdsvalue( expression, varargin)
+    info = mdsInfo();
+    n = nargin-1;
+    args=cell(n,1);
+    result = py.MDSplus.EXECUTE(expression,args{:});
+    result.evaluate();
+    result=mdsToMatlab(result);
+end
diff --git a/matlab/matlab2python.m b/matlab/matlab2python.m
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..54687bfa97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/matlab/matlab2python.m
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+function result = matlab2python(value, info)
+    dtype=class(value);
+    switch dtype
+        case 'char'
+            result = value;
+        otherwise
+            switch dtype
+                case 'single'
+                    dtype='float32';
+                case 'double'
+                    dtype='float64';
+                case 'cell'
+                    dtype='str';
+            end
+            if info.ispy2 && contains(dtype,'int64')
+                warning('MDSplus:python2_int64','%s\n',...
+                    'Loss of precision: python2 does not support int64 properly. Try python3 instead.',...
+                    'You can disable this warning with "warning(''off'', ''MDSplus:python2_int64'')"')
+                value = double(value);
+            end
+            if isscalar(value)
+                f=str2func(strcat('py.numpy.',dtype));
+                result=f(value);
+            else
+                sz = size(value);
+                result = py.numpy.array(reshape(value,int32(1),prod(int32(sz))),dtype);
+                if not(numel(sz) == 2 && sz(2) == 1)
+                    result = py.numpy.resize(result, flip(int32(sz)));
+                    result = py.numpy.ascontiguousarray(result);
+                end
+            end
+    end
+end
+
diff --git a/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m b/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m
index 92c9f2f511..88d60e0a10 100755
--- a/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m
+++ b/matlab/mdsFromMatlab.m
@@ -14,40 +14,6 @@
     end
 end
 
-function result = matlab2python(value, info)
-    dtype=class(value);
-    switch dtype
-        case 'char'
-            result = value;
-        otherwise
-            switch dtype
-                case 'single'
-                    dtype='float32';
-                case 'double'
-                    dtype='float64';
-                case 'cell'
-                    dtype='str';
-            end
-            if info.ispy2 && contains(dtype,'int64')
-                warning('MDSplus:python2_int64','%s\n',...
-                    'Loss of precision: python2 does not support int64 properly. Try python3 instead.',...
-                    'You can disable this warning with "warning(''off'', ''MDSplus:python2_int64'')"')
-                value = double(value);
-            end
-            if isscalar(value)
-                f=str2func(strcat('py.numpy.',dtype));
-                result=f(value);
-            else
-                sz = size(value);
-                result = py.numpy.array(reshape(value,int32(1),prod(int32(sz))),dtype);
-                if not(numel(sz) == 2 && sz(2) == 1)
-                    result = py.numpy.resize(result, flip(int32(sz)));
-                    result = py.numpy.ascontiguousarray(result);
-                end
-            end
-    end
-end
-
 function result = matlab2java(value, ~)
     switch class(value)
         case 'double'
diff --git a/matlab/mdsInfo.m b/matlab/mdsInfo.m
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index dff6335e94..5b98caa763
--- a/matlab/mdsInfo.m
+++ b/matlab/mdsInfo.m
@@ -53,21 +53,6 @@
     end
 end
 
-function err = setPython()
-    global MDSINFO
-    persistent cache
-    if ~isempty(cache)
-        err = cache;
-    else
-        try
-            MDSINFO.ispy2 = logical(py.MDSplus.version.ispy2);
-            err = false;
-            cache = err;
-        catch err
-        end
-    end
-end
-
 function err = setJavaMds()
     persistent cache
     if ~isempty(cache)
@@ -108,4 +93,4 @@
         catch err
         end
     end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m b/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m
index ae848c2372..e8eea1dd47 100755
--- a/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m
+++ b/matlab/mdsToMatlab.m
@@ -14,63 +14,6 @@
     end
 end
 
-function result = python2matlab(value, info)
-    if strncmp(class(value),'py.MDSplus', 10)
-        value = value.data();
-    end
-    if ~strncmp(class(value),'py.numpy', 8)
-        result = value;
-    else
-        dtype = char(value.dtype.name);
-        if contains(dtype,'str') || contains(dtype,'bytes')
-            if value.ndim == 0
-                result = char(value);
-            else
-                strs = value.flatten.tolist();
-                result{length(strs)} = '';
-                for idx = 1 : length(strs)
-                    result{idx} = char(py.MDSplus.version.tostr(strs{idx}));
-                end
-                shape = flip(int64(py.array.array('i', value.shape)));
-                if numel(shape) == 1
-                    shape = [shape, int64(1)];
-                end
-                result = reshape(result, shape);
-            end
-        else
-            switch dtype
-                case 'float32'
-                    dtype='single';
-                case 'float64'
-                    dtype='double';
-            end
-            f=str2func(dtype);
-            dtype = value.dtype.char;
-            if info.ispy2 && contains('Qq',char(dtype))
-                warning('MDSplus:python2_int64','%s\n',...
-                    'Loss of precision: python2 does not support int64 properly. Try python3 instead.',...
-                    'You can disable this warning with "warning(''off'', ''MDSplus:python2_int64'')"')
-                dtype='d';
-            end
-            if value.ndim > 1
-                shape = int64(py.array.array('i',value.shape));
-                if ~py.numpy.isfortran(value)
-                    shape = flip(shape);
-                end
-                value = py.numpy.asfortranarray(value);
-                value = py.array.array(dtype,value.flat);
-                result = reshape(f(value),shape);
-            else
-                if value.ndim > 0
-                    result=reshape(f(py.array.array(dtype,value)),[int64(value.shape{1}),1]);
-                else
-                    result=f(py.array.array(dtype,{value}));
-                end
-            end
-        end
-    end
-end
-
 function result = java2matlab(mdsthing, info)
     if ~strncmp(class(mdsthing),'MDSplus',7)
         result = mdsthing;
diff --git a/matlab/mdsvalue.m b/matlab/mdsvalue.m
index f7df095678..5753a9435e 100755
--- a/matlab/mdsvalue.m
+++ b/matlab/mdsvalue.m
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@
             end
         else
             if info.usePython
-                result = py.MDSplus.EXECUTE(expression,args{:});
-                result.evaluate();
+		result = PyExecute(expression, args{:})
             else
                 dobj=javaObject('MDSplus.Data');
                 result = dobj.execute(expression, args);
diff --git a/matlab/python2matlab.m b/matlab/python2matlab.m
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..f5cca87eb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/matlab/python2matlab.m
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+function result = python2matlab(value, info)
+    if strncmp(class(value),'py.MDSplus', 10)
+        value = value.data();
+    end
+    if ~strncmp(class(value),'py.numpy', 8)
+        result = value;
+    else
+        dtype = char(value.dtype.name);
+        if contains(dtype,'str') || contains(dtype,'bytes')
+            if value.ndim == 0
+                result = char(value);
+            else
+                strs = value.flatten.tolist();
+                result{length(strs)} = '';
+                for idx = 1 : length(strs)
+                    result{idx} = char(py.MDSplus.version.tostr(strs{idx}));
+                end
+                shape = flip(int64(py.array.array('i', value.shape)));
+                if numel(shape) == 1
+                    shape = [shape, int64(1)];
+                end
+                result = reshape(result, shape);
+            end
+        else
+            switch dtype
+                case 'float32'
+                    dtype='single';
+                case 'float64'
+                    dtype='double';
+            end
+            f=str2func(dtype);
+            dtype = value.dtype.char;
+            if info.ispy2 && contains('Qq',char(dtype))
+                warning('MDSplus:python2_int64','%s\n',...
+                    'Loss of precision: python2 does not support int64 properly. Try python3 instead.',...
+                    'You can disable this warning with "warning(''off'', ''MDSplus:python2_int64'')"')
+                dtype='d';
+            end
+            if value.ndim > 1
+                shape = int64(py.array.array('i',value.shape));
+                if ~py.numpy.isfortran(value)
+                    shape = flip(shape);
+                end
+                value = py.numpy.asfortranarray(value);
+                value = py.array.array(dtype,value.flat);
+                result = reshape(f(value),shape);
+            else
+                if value.ndim > 0
+                    result=reshape(f(py.array.array(dtype,value)),[int64(value.shape{1}),1]);
+                else
+                    result=f(py.array.array(dtype,{value}));
+                end
+            end
+        end
+    end
+end
+
diff --git a/matlab/setPython.m b/matlab/setPython.m
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..7e06795694
--- /dev/null
+++ b/matlab/setPython.m
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+function err = setPython()
+    global MDSINFO
+    persistent cache
+    if ~isempty(cache)
+        err = cache;
+    else
+        try
+            MDSINFO.ispy2 = logical(py.MDSplus.version.ispy2);
+            err = false;
+            cache = err;
+        catch err
+        end
+    end
+end
+