CODEWITHSUNDEEP
matlab
user001
user001

Reputation: 1848

what shell is used by the system command on matlab

System commands can be run on Matlab using the system() syntax. In a unix environment, what shell does matlab choose for executing system commands? The first entry of /etc/shells? Can the default behavior be changed? I am looking for a general solution that will apply to all system calls rather than one that involves forking a child process with the shell of interest as in system('/bin/ksh <command>').

Upvotes: 0

Views: 902

Answers (1)

Kojiro
Kojiro

Reputation: 181

As this document says,

On UNIX, MATLAB uses a shell program to execute the given command. It determines which shell program to use by checking environment variables on your system. MATLAB first checks the MATLAB_SHELL variable, and if either empty or not defined, then checks SHELL. If SHELL is also empty or not defined, MATLAB uses /bin/sh.

MATLAB's system command uses MATLAB_SHELL or SHELL, or /bin/sh. You can change the default shell by setting environment variable MATLAB_SHELL or SHELL.

For example, if you choose MATLAB_SHELL, before launching MATLAB, you need to set 

setenv MATLAB_SHELL /bin/ksh

in csh, tcsh.Or,

export MATLAB_SHELL="/bin/ksh"

in bash.

Then, MATLAB will use /bin/ksh with system command.

If you use /bin/ksh every time, it's better to set MATLAB_SHELL in your ~/.bashrc and so on.

Upvotes: 1

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