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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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