unix - Execute UNIX command and return output - MATLAB (original) (raw)

Main Content

Execute UNIX command and return output

For platform-independent code, use the system command.

Syntax

Description

[[status](#btoe4z0-1%5Fsep%5Fshared-status),[cmdout](#btoe4z0-1%5Fsep%5Fshared-cmdout)] = unix([command](#btoe4z0-1-command)) calls the operating system to execute the specified command and returns the standard output of the command to cmdout.

MATLAB® uses a shell program to execute the given command. It determines which shell program to use by checking environment variables on your system. MATLAB first checks the MATLAB_SHELL variable, and if either empty or not defined, then checks SHELL. IfSHELL is also empty or not defined, MATLAB uses /bin/sh.

For tips and information about limitations, see system.

example

Examples

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Display the current folder using the cd command. Astatus of zero indicates that the command completed successfully. MATLAB returns a character vector containing the current folder incmdout.

command = 'cd'; [status,cmdout] = unix(command)

Input Arguments

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UNIX command, specified as a character vector. The command executes in a UNIX shell, which might not be the shell from which you started MATLAB.

Example: 'ls'

Output Arguments

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Output of the operating system command, returned as a character vector. The system shell might not properly represent non-Unicode® characters.

Extended Capabilities

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Usage notes and limitations:

stdin of the calling process is inherited on Windows® and UNIX.
On UNIX, if a second output is requested,stdout is redirected to a pipe. Otherwise,stdout is inherited from the calling process.
On Windows, the nargout determines whether the output read from the pipe is stored in a variable or sent tostdout of the calling process. If the number of arguments is 1, the output from the pipe is sent tostdout. Otherwise, it is stored in a variable.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a