Run two command line instructions from matlab

Question

I want to run a R script from matlab.

I can run the R code perfectly from cmd using:

cd "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.3\bin\x64"
R CMD BATCH "C:\Users\name\Desktop\Code.R"

However in Matlab I am not sure how to run this two instructions. First, I noticed that I could use:

system('cd "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.3\bin\x64"')

to run a commnand line command. However I need to run two. And making:

system('cd "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.3\bin\x64"')
system('R CMD BATCH "C:\Users\name\Desktop\Code.R"')

does not work.

I also saw this post about running multiple command line instructions in a single line, but also that did not work.

Anyone knows how to do it?

Create a batch file that runs the instructions and call that — Richard, Jan 05 '17 at 15:36
I would like to avoid that, and I want the code to be transparent as possible. So calling a batch that calls an R script... — phdstudent, Jan 05 '17 at 15:37

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Your script should generally not care where it’s executed. So you don’t need the cd statement at all:

system('"C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.3\bin\x64\R.exe" CMD BATCH "C:\Users\name\Desktop\Code.R"')

Be careful thought that the R path might not always be the same … it’s probably safer to find R’s location programmatically. Though how to do that in Matlab on Windows, I don’t know.

Furthermore, I honestly don’t really know why R CMD BATCH even exists but I strongly recommend using RScript instead. It works much nicer for a number of reasons.

The code then becomes:

system('"C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.3\bin\x64\Rscript.exe" "C:\Users\name\Desktop\Code.R"')

score -3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 05 '17 at 15:23

-3

Try to use dos command instead of system.

answered Jan 05 '17 at 15:23

Andrei Davydov

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There is no difference between `dos` and `system` on Windows platforms. – sco1 Jan 05 '17 at 15:25

Run two command line instructions from matlab

2 Answers2