MATLAB: Is there a way (command line switch) to prevent execution of startup.m when starting a new Matlab instance

Is there a way (command line switch) to prevent execution of startup.m when starting a new Matlab instance? How about the same for finish.m?

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You can write a small batch job, which creates an envorinment variable before calling Matlab:

@echo off
set NoMatlabStartupM=1
matlab

Now insert this on top of the startup.m function:

NoMatlabStartupM = getenv('NoMatlabStartupM');
if ~isempty(NoMatlabStartupM)
  return;
end

No startup.m is still called, but not executed, when you start Matlab through this batch file.

Related Solutions

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

MATLAB: How to keep/use last used CURRENT DIR

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.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

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

MATLAB: How to keep/use last used CURRENT DIR

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