Executing MATLAB from Bash

Question

I've been trying to work on opening/executing MATLAB from bash (I'm using Terminal, specifically). However, despite numerous attempts at troubleshooting, I have been unable to do it.

Running the "matlab" command gives me the error:

-bash: matlab: command not found

A cursory Google search suggested it could be an issue of my local bin, but my bin looks like:

/usr/local/bin:
  total used in directory 16 available 208047788
  drwxr-xr-x  4 alifarhat  wheel  136 Jul 22 11:30 .
  drwxr-xr-x  3 alifarhat  wheel  102 Jan 22 01:56 ..
  lrwxr-xr-x  1 alifarhat  wheel   29 Jul 22 11:30 matlab -> /usr/local/matlab6/bin/matlab
  lrwxr-xr-x  1 alifarhat  wheel   26 Jul 22 11:30 mex -> /usr/local/matlab6/bin/mex

Which seems to indicate that matlab is talking to the bin.

If it helps, when I cd into /usr/local and then ls, the only directory/item in there at all is "bin". Could this have something to do with it? How can I fix it if it does?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

1

It seems like PATH issues. Is /usr/local/bin in your $PATH?
Try

 ~$ echo $PATH

What do you see?

If /usr/local/bin is not part of your $PATH you can add it:

 ~$ export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH

Then try and run matlab from shell

EDIT:
Based on these comments it seems like matlab executable is not located at /usr/local/matlab6/bin. Therefore, you can either

Add /Applications/MATLAB_R2014a.app/bin/ to path:

~$ export PATH=/Applications/MATLAB_R2014a.app/bin:$PATH

or

Replace the broken symbolic links in /usr/local/bin (you might need root privileges for this). See this thread for more details.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

Community

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answered Jul 22 '15 at 18:34

Shai

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echo $PATH gives me "/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin: **/usr/local/bin**: /usr/X11/bin" – Breaking Bioinformatics Jul 22 '15 at 18:36
@BreakingBioinformatics if you `~$ ls /usr/local/matlab6/bin/` what do you see? – Shai Jul 22 '15 at 18:38
No such file or directory. – Breaking Bioinformatics Jul 22 '15 at 18:39
@BreakingBioinformatics this means the sym links in `/usr/local/bin` are broken and pointing nowhere. Are you sure Matlab is installed on your machine? is it possible someone uninstalled it/removed it? – Shai Jul 22 '15 at 18:40
@BreakingBioinformatics try locating matlab `~$ find /usr -name "matlab" -type f` what can you see? – Shai Jul 22 '15 at 18:41
I've used MATLAB on this machine (without going through the command line) before and it clearly works, so it's definitely on the machine. – Breaking Bioinformatics Jul 22 '15 at 18:41
And I see nothing when executing that line. I may as well have just clicked enter. – Breaking Bioinformatics Jul 22 '15 at 18:42
@BreakingBioinformatics it's definitely not in `/usr/local/bin` or `/usr/local/matlab6/bin`... – Shai Jul 22 '15 at 18:42
@BreakingBioinformatics try expanding the search: `~$ find / -name "*matlab*" -type f` - it might take a while. – Shai Jul 22 '15 at 18:43
I think it found them in "Applications" – Breaking Bioinformatics Jul 22 '15 at 18:44
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Executing "find /Applications -name "matlab" -type f" gave me "/Applications/MATLAB_R2014a.app/bin/matlab" – Breaking Bioinformatics Jul 22 '15 at 18:46
@BreakingBioinformatics good for you! now you can either replace the broken sym-links in `/usr/local/bin` or add the correct folder in `Applications` to your `$PATH`. – Shai Jul 22 '15 at 18:46

jfish003 · Answer 2 · 2015-07-22T18:52:51.847

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Once you are in the correct directory, you should execute the command:

    ./matlab

instead of just typing matlab.

edited Jul 22 '15 at 18:52

answered Jul 22 '15 at 18:37

jfish003

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There's an issue with finding "the correct directory" as you can see from [these comments](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31571212/executing-matlab-from-bash/31571312?noredirect=1#comment51097544_31571312). – Shai Jul 22 '15 at 18:44

Executing MATLAB from Bash

2 Answers2