MATLAB Commands

Last Updated : 04 Jul, 2021

MATLAB is an interactive multi-programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB provides the Commands that will be used when the user wants to interact with any application using the command line interface.

Following are the lists of commands used in MATLAB.

Commands for Managing a Session

Command	Use
clc	Clears command window
clear	Removes the variables from memory
global	Declares variables globally
exist	Checks for the existence of a particular file or memory
help	Searches for a help topic
quit	Stops MATLAB
who	Lists current variables in use
lookfor	Searches help entries for a keyboard

Example 1

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate
% global
     function setGlobalx(val)
    global x

Output:

x = val;

Example 2

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate who
    x = 2
    who

Output:

Variables in the current scope: x

Example 3

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate
% clear
    clear
    type x

Output:

error: type 'x' is undefined

Commands for Working with the System

Command	Use
cd	Changes current directory
date	Displays current date
delete	Deletes a file
dir	Lists all the files in a directory
path	Displays search path
pwd	Displays current directory
type	Displays content of a file
wklread	Reads.wk1 spreadsheet file
save	Saves workplace variables in a file

Example 1

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate
% pwd
    pwd

Output:

ans = /home/oo

Example 2

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate
% date
c = date

Output:

c= '18-jun-2021'

Input and Output Commands

Command	Use
disp	Displays content of an array or a string
fscanf	Reads formatted data from a file
format	Controls screen-display format
fprintf	Performs formatted writes to file or screen
input	Displays the prompt and waits for input
;	Suppresses screen printing

Example 1

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate
% disp

    A = [15 150];
    S = 'Hello World.';
    disp(A)
    disp(S)

Output:

15 150
    
Hello World.

Example 2

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate
%input
 age = input('how old are you: '); 
     % At this point, the variable: age, will contain 
     % whatever value the user types

Output:

Vector, Matrix, and Array Commands

Command	Use
cat	Concatenates the array
find	Finds the indices of nonzero elements
max	Returns the largest element
min	Returns the smallest element
prod	Product of each column
sort	Sorts each column
rank	Computes rank of a matrix
eye	Creates an identity matrix
inv	Computes the inverse of a matrix

Example 1

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate 
%cat
    array1 = [1,2,3]
    array2 = [4,5,6]
    cat(1,array1,array2)

Output:

    ans = 
    
    1    2    3
    4    5    6

Example 2

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate 
%max
max(array1)

Output:

ans = 3

Example 3

Matlab

%MATLAB Code to illustrate
%min
min(array2)

Output:

ans = 4

Matlab

%MATLAB Code to illustrate
%eye
eye(2,2)

Output:

    ans = 
    Diagonal Matrix
    1    0
    0    1

Plotting Commands:

Commands	Use
axis	Sets axis limit
grid	Displays grid lines
plot	Generates xy plot
title	Puts title at top of the plot
close	Closes current plot
bar	Creates bar chart
print	Prints the plot / saves the plot
figure	Opens a new figure window
Close all	Closes all plots

Example1:

Matlab

% MATLAB Code to illustrate
%plot
    x = linspace(0,20)
    y = cos(x)
    plot(x,y)

Output:

Example 2:

Matlab

%MATLAB Code to illustrate
%grid
    x = linspace(0,20)
    y = cos(x)
    plot(x,y)
    grid on

Output:

Factorial in MATLAB

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Article Tags :

MATLAB Commands

Commands for Managing a Session

Commands for Working with the System

Input and Output Commands

Vector, Matrix, and Array Commands

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