MATLAB Commands
MATLAB is an interactive program for numerical computing and data visualization. We can enter a command by typing it at the MATLAB prompt '>>' on the Command Window.
In this topic, we will provide lists of frequently used general MATLAB commands.
On-Line help
| Commands |
Purpose |
| help |
lists topics on which help is available |
| helpwin |
opens the interactive help window |
| helpdesk |
Opens the web-browser-based help facility |
| help topic |
provide help on the topic |
| lookfor string |
lists help topics containing a string |
| demo |
runs the demo program |
| lookfor |
Keyword search for help |
| doc |
Online HTML documentation |
| whatsnew |
Display ReadMe files |
| info |
Info about MATLAB |
| syntax |
Help on command syntax |
| why |
Give a philosophical device |
| format |
Set screen output format |
| more |
Control paged screen output |
| home |
Send cursor home |
| echo |
Echo commands in the script file |
| ↑,↓ |
Recall previous commands |
| global |
Declare variables to be global |
Variable and Workspace Information
| Commands |
Purpose |
| who |
lists variables currently in the workspace |
| whos |
lists variables directly in the workspace with their size |
| what |
lists M-, Mat-, and Mex directories on the disk |
| clear |
clear the workspace, and all variables are removed |
| clear x, y, z |
clear only variables x, y, and z. |
| clear all |
Clears all variables and function from workspace |
| mlock fun |
locks function fun so that clear cannot delete it |
| munlock fun |
unlocks functions fun so that clear cannot remove it |
| clc |
clears command window, cursor shift to the top |
| home |
scrolls the command window, cursor moves to the top |
| clf |
clear figure window |
| load |
Load variable from file |
| save |
Save variable in Mat-file |
| length |
Length of a vector |
| size |
Size of a matrix |
| pack |
Consolidate memory space |
| disp |
Display text or matrix |
Working with Files and Directory Information
| Commands |
Purpose |
| pwd |
shows the current working directory |
| cd |
changes the current working directory |
| dir |
lists contents of the current directory |
| ls |
lists contents of the current files, same as dir |
| path |
gets or sets MATLAB search path |
| editpath |
modifies MATLAB search path |
| copyfile |
copies a file |
| mkdir |
creates a new directory |
| rmdir |
Remove directory |
| delete |
Delete file |
| diary |
Save text of MATLAB session |
| type |
Show contents of the file |
| ! |
Access operating system |
| path |
List accessible directories |
| what |
Lists all MATLAB data in the current directory. |
| wklread |
Reads .wk1 spreadsheet file. |
General Information
| Commands |
Purpose |
| computer |
tells you the computer type you are using |
| clock |
gives you wall clock time and date as a vector |
| date |
tells you the date as a string |
| more |
control the paged output according to the screen size |
| ver |
gives the license and the MATLAB version data |
| bench |
benchmarks our computer on running MATLAB compared to other devices |
Start and Exist
| Commands |
Purpose |
| ^c(Control-c) |
local abort, kills the current command execution |
| matlabarc |
Master start-up file |
| startup |
M-file executed at start-up |
| quit |
Quit MATLAB |
| exit |
same as quit |
Time and Date
| Commands |
Purpose |
| clock |
Wall clock time |
| cputime |
Elapsed CPU time |
| date |
Date, month, year |
| etime |
Elapsed time function |
| tic |
Start stopwatch timer |
| toc |
Read stopwatch timer |
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