matlab (Windows)

Start MATLAB program from Windows system prompt

Syntax

matlab

matlab option1 ... optionN

Description

matlab starts the MATLAB^® program from the Microsoft^® Windows^® system prompt. In this topic the term matlab refers to the command you type, and MATLAB refers to the program.

The matlab command:

• Determines the MATLAB root folder, the value returned by the matlabroot function.

• Processes command-line options and passes other options to MATLAB.

To capture the exit code, start MATLAB with the -wait option.

matlab option1 ... optionN starts MATLAB with the specified startup options.

Input Arguments

option1 ... optionN — One or more startup options

strings

One or more startup options, specified as strings corresponding to valid startup options from the following tables.

Display Options

Option	Result
-noFigureWindows	Disable the display of figure windows in MATLAB.
-nosplash	Do not display the splash screen during startup.

Set Initial Working Folder

The initial working folder is the current folder when MATLAB starts. For more information, see MATLAB Startup Folder.

Option	Result
-sd folder	Set the MATLAB folder to folder, specified as a string. Example: matlab -sd "C:\work"
-useStartupFolderPref	Set the MATLAB folder to the value specified by the Initial working folder preference, located in the General Preferences page of the Preferences.

Debugging Options

Option	Result
-logfile filename	Copy Command Window output, including error log reports, in to filename, specified as a string. Example: -logfile output.log
-jdb portnumber	Enable use of the Java® debugger. The Java debugger uses the default portnumber value 4444 to communicate with MATLAB. The port number is optional. However, to use the Java debugger while running multiple MATLAB sessions, you must provide a port number. The portnumber value must be an integer in the range 0–65535. The integer cannot be reserved or currently in use by another application on your system.

Execute MATLAB Script or Function

Option	Result
-batch statement	Execute MATLAB script, statement, or function non-interactively. MATLAB: Starts without the desktop Does not display the splash screen Executes statement Displays figure windows, unless combined with the -noFigureWindows option Displays user-generated modal dialog boxes, but does not display unprompted modal dialog boxes Disables changes to preferences Disables toolbox caching Logs text to stdout and stderr Exits automatically with exit code 0 if statement executes successfully. Otherwise, MATLAB terminates with a non-zero exit code. statement is MATLAB code enclosed in double quotation marks. If statement is the name of a MATLAB function or script, do not specify the file extension. Any required file must be on the MATLAB search path or in the startup folder. Use the -batch option in non-interactive scripting or command line workflows. Do not use this option with the -r option. To test if a session of MATLAB is running in batch mode, call the batchStartupOptionUsed function. Example: -batch "myscript"
-r statement	Execute the MATLAB statement. Use this option for interactive workflows. Do not use this option with the -batch option. Note To set the initial working folder, use the -sd option. For example: -sd folder Example: -r "disp(['Current folder: ' pwd])" Example: -r "myscript"

Use Single Computational Thread

By default, MATLAB uses the multithreading capabilities of the computer on which it is running.

Option	Result
-singleCompThread	Limit MATLAB to a single computational thread. This option is for numerical computations only.

Disable Searching Custom Java Class Path

Option	Result
-nouserjavapath	Disable use of javaclasspath.txt and javalibrarypath.txt files. For more information, see Specifying Java Startup Options.

OpenGL Library Options

These options control the use of software OpenGL^® libraries when MATLAB detects a graphics driver with known issues. For more information, see Graphics Features That Have Specific Requirements.

In a future release, these options will be removed. For more information, see Version History.

Option	Result
-softwareopengl	Force MATLAB to start with software OpenGL libraries.
-nosoftwareopengl	Disable auto-selection of OpenGL software.

COM Server Options

Option	Result
-automation	Start MATLAB as a Component Object Model (COM) Automation server. MATLAB does not display the splash screen and minimizes the window. Use for a single call to MATLAB.
-regserver	Register MATLAB as a COM server in the Windows registry. You must have administrator privileges to change the Windows registry. Based on your User Account Control (UAC) settings, you might need to right-click a Windows Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. If that option is not available, contact your system administrator. Alternatively, you can register MATLAB from the MATLAB command prompt. Type: regmatlabserver For more information, see Register MATLAB as COM Server and regmatlabserver.
-unregserver	Remove MATLAB COM server entries from the registry.

Wait for MATLAB to Terminate

By default, when you call the matlab command from a script, the command starts MATLAB and then immediately executes the next statements in the script. The -wait option pauses the script until MATLAB terminates.

Option	Result
-wait	Use in a script to process the results from MATLAB. Calling MATLAB with this option blocks the script from continuing until the results are generated.

Specify License File

For more information, see Update or Modify Network License Files.

Option	Result
-c license	Use the License File, license, specified as a string, a semicolon-separated list of license file names, or a port@host entry. If specifying multiple files, separate the names by semicolons and enclose the entire list in quotation marks. If the path to your license file contains a space, enclose the path name in quotation marks. Example: -c "c:\TMW license\license_agreement.txt"

Help Options

Option	Result
-h	Display options without starting MATLAB.
-help	Same as -h option.
-?	Same as -h option.

Examples

Startup Without Splash Screen

matlab -nosplash 

Copy Command Window Output into output.log File

matlab -logfile output.log

Return Exit Code on Windows

To return an exit status on the command line, start MATLAB with the -wait option.

From the operating system prompt, type:

matlab -wait

Tips

• To add folders to the MATLAB search path at startup, set the MATLABPATH environment variable before running the matlab command. For more information, see Add Folders to the MATLAB Search Path at Startup.

Version History

R2022a: OpenGL library options will be removed in a future release

In a future release, the -softwareopengl and -nosoftwareopengl options will be removed. It will no longer be necessary to specify the graphics renderer when these options are removed.

R2019a: -r option for non-interactive use is not recommended

To start MATLAB non-interactively, use the -batch option. To start MATLAB interactively, use the -r option.