Matlab Desktop

Unlike most programming languages, MATLAB’s Desktop application is central to the experience — although it is not strictly required. For example, you can use the MATLAB Engine API for Python to drive an embedded MATLAB terminal inside VSCode in place of the Desktop.

MATLAB Desktop (R2020b) includes 3 panels:

1. Current Folder — Access your files
2. Command Window — Enter commands at the command line, indicated by the prompt >>
3. Workspace — Explore data that you create or import from files.

The first two are similar to the command prompt of any language; the distinctive panel is the Workspace, which represents the working memory and shows every variable in the current project.

Command Window

• Like the interactive REPL of other languages, the Command Window is suited to running short, throwaway code and shows the results
• You can run a file.m from the Current Folder by typing file
  • Do not include the extension
  • You cannot run a file from the system shell with matlab file.m
  • You can also run a file with run relative/or/absolute/path.m
• Expressions without an assignment are bound to the default variable ans
  • ans is also stored in the Workspace
• For long commands, soft-wrap with ... followed by Enter
  • ... is treated as a space at execution time
  • Code after ... on the same line is ignored, so a comment can follow it
• Append ; to suppress the result display for an individual command

⭐ Common Commands

command	description
format [short]	Display doubles in short format (5 decimal places)
format long	Display doubles in long format
format short e	Short scientific notation
format long e	Long scientific notation
format bank	Show 2 decimal places
format hex	Hexadecimal representation
format rat	Approximate rational representation
format +	Show only the sign of each element
dbstop if error	Stop at the error site and preserve all relevant variables
who	List Workspace variable names
whos	List Workspace variables with details
what	List all .m and .mat files in the Current Folder
clc	Clear Command Window
clear	Matlab Functions - clear
save, load	Matlab Functions - save, load
diary	Log following input and output in Command Window to file diary
cd	Change directory
delete	Delete file(s)
help	Help documents
lookfor	Search all MATLAB files for keyword
run	Run the file with the exact path
quit, exit	Exit MATLAB

• These commands are not restricted to the Command Window — they may also appear inside an Matlab M File. They are merely closely associated with the Command Window.

Workspace

• Workspace variables can be saved to a .mat file and loaded back later
  • If the Workspace already contains a variable with the same name as one in the .mat file, the loaded value overwrites the existing one
  • Use save and load to save and load variables Matlab Functions - save, load
• The command (function) clear clears all Workspace variables
• The command pack reorganises memory
• Double-clicking a variable in the Workspace opens it for editing