diff -uNr a/src/packfields.cc b/src/packfields.cc
--- a/src/packfields.cc	2015-05-27 11:43:57.000000000 -0400
+++ b/src/packfields.cc	2017-07-10 14:21:37.229291149 -0400
@@ -15,10 +15,11 @@
 
 #include <octave/oct.h>
 #include <octave/utils.h>
+#include <octave/interpreter.h>
 #include <octave/symtab.h>
 #include <octave/oct-map.h>
 
-DEFUN_DLD (packfields, args, ,
+DEFMETHOD_DLD (packfields, interp, args, ,
   "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
 @deftypefn {Loadable Function} {} packfields (@var{s_name}, @var{var1}, @var{var2}, @dots{})\n\
 Create struct from variables.\n\
@@ -44,6 +45,9 @@
 
   if (nargin > 0)
     {
+      octave::symbol_table::scope *curr_scope
+	= interp.require_current_scope ("packfields");
+
       std::string struct_name = args (0).string_value ();
       string_vector fld_names(nargin-1);
       octave_value_list fld_vals(nargin-1);
@@ -64,7 +68,7 @@
           if (valid_identifier (fld_name))
             {
               fld_names(i) = fld_name;
-              octave_value fld_val = symbol_table::varval (fld_name);
+              octave_value fld_val = curr_scope->varval (fld_name);
               if (fld_val.is_defined ())
                 fld_vals(i) = fld_val;
               else
@@ -77,7 +81,7 @@
       if (! error_state)
         {
           // Force the symbol to be inserted in caller's scope.
-          symbol_table::symbol_record& rec = symbol_table::insert (struct_name);
+	  octave::symbol_table::symbol_record& rec = curr_scope->insert (struct_name);
 
           octave_value& struct_ref = rec.varref ();
 
diff -uNr a/src/unpackfields.cc b/src/unpackfields.cc
--- a/src/unpackfields.cc	2015-05-27 11:43:57.000000000 -0400
+++ b/src/unpackfields.cc	2017-07-10 14:21:30.893590654 -0400
@@ -15,10 +15,11 @@
 
 #include <octave/oct.h>
 #include <octave/utils.h>
+#include <octave/interpreter.h>
 #include <octave/symtab.h>
 #include <octave/oct-map.h>
 
-DEFUN_DLD (unpackfields, args, ,
+DEFMETHOD_DLD (unpackfields, interp, args, ,
   "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
 @deftypefn {Loadable Function} {} unpackfields (@var{s_name}, @var{fld1}, @var{fld2}, @dots{})\n\
 Create variables from fields of a struct.\n\
@@ -50,6 +51,9 @@
 
   if (nargin > 0)
     {
+      octave::symbol_table::scope *curr_scope
+	= interp.require_current_scope ("unpackfields");
+
       std::string struct_name = args (0).string_value ();
       string_vector fld_names(nargin-1);
 
@@ -75,7 +79,7 @@
       if (! error_state)
         {
           // Force the symbol to be inserted in caller's scope.
-          octave_value struct_val = symbol_table::varval (struct_name);
+          octave_value struct_val = curr_scope->varval (struct_name);
 
           if (struct_val.is_map ())
             {
@@ -89,7 +93,7 @@
                     {
                       octave_scalar_map::const_iterator iter = map.seek (fld_names(i));
                       if (iter != map.end ())
-                        symbol_table::assign (fld_names(i), map.contents (iter));
+                        curr_scope->assign (fld_names(i), map.contents (iter));
                       else
                         {
                           error ("unpackfields: field %s does not exist", fld_names(i).c_str ());
@@ -114,7 +118,7 @@
                     break;
 
                   if (val.is_defined ())
-                    symbol_table::assign (fld_names(i), val);
+                    curr_scope->assign (fld_names(i), val);
                 }
             }
         }