MATLAB: How to keep/use last used CURRENT DIR

cdcurrent foldermatlab environment

One decision has proposed by om_s (at russian matlab-forum):

% put this file in matlabroot\toolbox\local\startup.m
cd_path=strcat(prefdir,'\cwdhistory.m');cd_dir=importdata(cd_path);
cd_path=cd_dir{1};cd(cd_path);clear cd_path cd_dir;

But I don't believe that there is no decision by MATLAB IDE way (any radiobutton or…). The goal is: every MATLAB session begins with current folder that have used in last session.

Best Answer

I think in order to be consistent with the -r and -sd (Windows only) startup flags and environment variables on UNIX, it might be better to change userpath in finish.m. This way, if a startup path is specified, it does not get overwritten. I would simply add:

userpath(pwd)

to finish.m. This way also handles the case where the last directory is deleted after quitting MATLAB.

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Is there a way to tell uigetfile to start browsing in a folder other than the current one

Edit

uigetfile('*.m','select the m file','E:/matlab')

MATLAB: Is it possible to set the startup directory to be the directory I was in when I ended the previous session of MATLAB

The ability to preserve the directory between sessions is not available in MATLAB.

To work around this issue, you may use finish.m to have MATLAB use the last directory and use that upon starting a new session. The finish.m file would store the pathname of the last directory into your user path.

The finish.m file would include the lines:

p = pwd;
userpath(p);
savepath;

Note that the command FINISH automatically executes before leaving MATLAB if the file finish.m exists on the path. More information on this functionality can be found in the documentation by typing

doc finish

Alternatively, it is possible to use startup.m and finish.m files in order to have MATLAB remember the last directory and use that upon starting a new session. The finish.m file would store the pathname of the last directory into a variable, and the startup.m file would load this variable and use its contents to determine what to change the current directory to.

The startup.m file would include the lines

if (exist([matlabroot filesep 'work' filesep 'last_dir.mat']) == 2) 
      load ([matlabroot filesep 'work' filesep 'last_dir']) 
      cd(last_dir); 
end

whereas the finish.m file would include the lines

last_dir = pwd; 
save([matlabroot filesep 'work' filesep 'last_dir'],'last_dir');

Note that the command STARTUP automatically executes when starting MATLAB if the file startup.m exists, and the command FINISH automatically executes before leaving MATLAB if the file finish.m exists. More information on this functionality can be found in the documentation by typing

doc startup 
doc finish

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Is there a way to tell uigetfile to start browsing in a folder other than the current one

MATLAB: Is it possible to set the startup directory to be the directory I was in when I ended the previous session of MATLAB

Related Question