How do I launch MATLAB on Linux?

I've completed the installation and activation of MATLAB on a Linux computer. How do I launch the application?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

MATLAB must be launched from the command line on Linux.

If you completed installation as root user, you may have had the option to install symbolic links to MATLAB in a folder on your system path. If you selected to install these links you can launch MATLAB from the command line, regardless of current working directory, by typing the command:

user@host$> matlab

If this does not work, or if you did not install the symbolic links during installation, you must launch MATLAB by specifying the full path to the MATLAB start script:

user@host$> cd $MATLABROOT/bin

where $MATLABROOT is the full path to your MATLAB installation directory, ex:

/usr/local/matlab/R2009b

then launch MATLAB using the following command:

user@host$> ./matlab

See the Documentation for additional information about starting MATLAB on Linux:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/start-matlab-on-linux-platforms.html

[Dimitri]

helpful

[Nathaniel Cziranka-Crooks]

is there a way to go back and install symbiotic links?

[Matheus LARANJEIRA MOREIRA]

Nathaniel, this is the answer for your question : http://fr.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/96149-what-are-symbolic-links-and-why-does-the-matlab-installer-ask-if-i-want-to-create-them

[Alex Bustos]

Easier than that, at least in Debian based distros; is to install the package "matlab-support" as soon the setup ends. It'll fix some gcc library problems and make the symlinks to simply invoke with "matlab" in terminal.

[Ethan Canzini]

When I run that command, there is a message saying no such file or directory. How would I go about installing?

[Walter Roberson]

Ethan, which command is it you are running that is giving that message?

[legionmaster]

To be able to launch matlab from terminal, if it doesn't work after installation, you should create an alias, for instance by typing:

cd /usr/local/bin/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/MATLAB/R2012a/bin/matlab matlab

More information can be found here: link1 and link2.

[Walter Roberson]

legionmaster comments to Alex Bustos:

Easier than that, at least in Debian based distros; is to install the package "matlab-support" as soon the setup ends. It'll fix some gcc library problems and make the symlinks to simply invoke with "matlab" in terminal.

[Walter Roberson]

zongyi xu comments to legionmaster:

it works

[Min Adhikari]

It works Great

[Luca Bellino]

Hello, I have the same problem. I would like to run matlab form any drive with my Terminal on Mac, and i follow the instruction going first in MAchintosh HD, then /Applications/MATLAB_R2018a.app/bin, where the matlab executable exist. Then I run the command:

    sudo ln -s /Applications/MATLAB_R2018a.app/bin/matlab  matlab

but the result is

    ls: matlab: File exists

but if i try to run matlab form anywhere it doesn-t work ... how can i do?? Thank you very much

[lijecaru]

Hi Luca, did you find the answer to your problem? I have exactly the same issue. I can run matlab from the terminal, but it is annoying to have to go to the installation path to do that every time. Thanks

[Walter Roberson]

    sudo ln -s /Applications/MATLAB_R2018a.app/bin/matlab  /usr/local/bin/matlab

provided that /usr/local/bin is on your path, which might not be the case in OS-X.

See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22465332/setting-path-environment-variable-in-osx-permanently/38670834

[Siddharth Kurkure]

When I did that, I got ln: failed to create symbolic link '/usr/local/bin/matlab': File exists

[Walter Roberson]

/usr/local/bin/matlab might already exist on Linux, as Linux has an option to create the symbolic links.

Either way, if it exists, then you might need to update it if it is referring to an older version of MATLAB.

ls -ld /usr/local/bin/matlab

If the output starts with 'd' then it is a directory and should not be removed without further investigation. If it starts with '-' then it is an ordinary file and should not be removed without further investigation. If it starts with 's' then it is a symbolic link, and the ls output will show you want it is currently linked to; in this case to update it

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/matlab

followed by the sudo ln

[Benjamin Stadler]

If you're tiered of typing the entire path each time, you can simply add the matlab bin to your PATH variable as described here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/60218/how-to-add-a-directory-to-the-path

Note: The bin is located for me (Ubuntu 18.04, default installation) under

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2018b/bin/

Answer 2

[Mika Mäki]

For Ubuntu (and its variants) there is the package matlab-support, which creates a shortcut for MATLAB in the launcher and applies a few bugfixes created by the community. You can install it with

sudo apt install matlab-support

You might also want to have a look at the Matlab page of official Ubuntu documentation and this thread.

[Collins Bekeo]

this works perfectly. thanks

[J SV]

This also worked for me. Thanks

[Mohammadpouya Mostashar]

Worked!

[Mahathi Bhargavapuri]

This works! Awesome!

[seager1989]

Worked

[Igor]

It worked, thank you! The MATLAB icon is a different color for me on Linux Mint 20, but everything works great now.

[Darcy de Asis]

This worked thank you!

[David Winthrop]

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package matlab-support is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'matlab-support' has no installation candidate

Does not work...

[Sa-aadat Parker]

Still works. Everything seems fine.

[Siamak Khorasani]

works Aug 1 2021

[Betsy Villa]

it worked Aug 30 2021

[chaithra p]

E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (13: Permission denied)

E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root?

i'm getting this error plese solve it

[Walter Roberson]

dpkg is used to install things.

You might need to sudo whatever you were doing, once, to allow it to install whatever it is trying to install.

[Stephen Dame]

The Ubuntu resource is VERY old and out of date

[Bernard Kosciewicz]

It works

[Marcus Kirby]

This didn't automatically locate the MATLAB installation directory for me, but it's an excellent package.

[Tapadyuti Baral]

Its work perfectly for me, didnt locate directory automatically but worked!!

Answer 3

[Marcos Rogério Fernandes]

You can also make a shortcut (at least on Ubuntu) using gnome-panel like that:

sudo apt-get install gnome-panel (only if you don't already has installed)
sudo gnome-desktop-item-edit /usr/share/applications/ --create-new

So, into window that will appear for you, set the properties like below:

And then, will be in your applications menu a icon like that:

That way, you can run the Matlab direct from menu, also can add to dock.

[Killian Gaudimont]

I just downloaded matlab 2017b while there is the 2017a version on my computer (version I do not own the licence). By default the commande "matlab" on the terminal try to open the 2017a version and failed, even after I did what you said.

However if I choose the type "Application" instead of "Application in Terminal" it works great and I thank you.

Do you know what can I do to change the default settings of the commande "matlab" in the terminal though so that I can lauch matlab 2017b instead of 2017a from the terminal?

[gorilla3]

hi,

I tried implementing your solutions but it's still not working. What's the full text you input in "command"?

Also, I get this message in the terminal:

Gtk dialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged

Ps. I have ubuntu 16.04 and am trying to run Matlab2017b.

[AKASH DEEP]

THATNKS ALOT IT WORKED

[Carlos De Castro]

Thank you very much, this worked perfectly, I love you!

Answer 4

[Ish Jain]

To create a shortcut for matlab in Linux Ubuntu:

1. Open bashrc file located in ~/.bashrc in your favourite editer, e.g. vim

$ vim ~/.bashrc

2. Add matlab alias (copy the line towards the end of bashrc file)

alias matlab="/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021a/bin/matlab"

Make sure to use the correct path based on Matlab version

3. Source the bashrc file

$ source ~/.bashrc

4. Now to open matlab, just type on terminal

$ matlab

[Hamdi Ahmed]

Thanks @Ish Jain, It worked ^^

[Marco Tulio Carmona Bellido]

nice!

[Neeraj Kumar]

Great! Just worked nicely.

[Sergey Solomatin]

Thanks!!!

[Zhengmeng Zhai]

NICE!

[ELIO VAONA]

useful

[Ali Farzanehpoor Alwars]

great!

[sam reswinraj abraham]

Thanks! works great

Answer 5

[Revanth Bhattaram]

Step 1. go to terminal and type : matlab if it don"t work and

Step 2a: user@host$> cd <your installation path>/bin where <your installation path> is your installation directory Step 2b: user@host/<your installation path> /bin $> ./matlab

if it works then you can create a path in bash.bashrc file found in /etc folder open it using gksudo or any other editor as sudo, paste export PATH=$PATH:<your installation path> for example export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/MATLAB/R2017b/bin/

save and exit. now if you enter matlab in terminal, it should launch.

[RITIKA JAIN]

Thanks a lot. It worked !!

[Anurag Bhattacharyya]

Thanks! it works

Answer 6

[Michael Levy]

Apparently, the first thing to do is to type the following 6 letters at the command prompt:

MATLAB

[Gerrik Labra]

I tried with the latest verison, of Google linux beta, on google pixel book, but it doesn't show the graphics.

nnuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ ./install

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'

what(): Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application

Aborted (core dumped)

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ matlab

-bash: matlab: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ MATLAB

-bash: MATLAB: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ cd

ennuilysis@penguin:~$ MATLAB

-bash: MATLAB: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~$ cd Matlab

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ MATLAB

-bash: MATLAB: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ Install

-bash: Install: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ .install

-bash: .install: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ .MATLAB

-bash: .MATLAB: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ sudo ./install

-bash: ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$: No such file or directory

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ No protocol specified

-bash: No: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ terminate called after throwing an instance of '(anonymous namespace)::DisplayError'

-bash: terminate: command not found

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ what(): No display available.

-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `:'

ennuilysis@penguin:~/Matlab$ Aborted

[Gerrik Labra]

furthermore, I was running MATLAB 2020b

Answer 7

[Diamond Fianka]

thank, it works @ command promt enter matlab