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unix - Execute UNIX command and return result

Syntax

unix command status = unix('command') [status, result] = unix('command') [status,result] = unix('command','-echo')

Description

unix command calls upon the UNIX^[1] operating system to execute the given command.

status = unix('command') returns completion status to the status variable.

[status, result] = unix('command') returns the standard output to the result variable, in addition to completion status.

[status,result] = unix('command','-echo') displays the results in the Command Window as it executes, and assigns the results to result.

Definitions

Examples

List all users that are currently logged in.

[s,w] = unix('who');

MATLAB returns 0 (success) in s and a string containing the list of users in w.

Try to execute a string that isn't a UNIX command.

[s,w] = unix('why')
s =
    1
w =
why: Command not found.

MATLAB returns a nonzero value in s to indicate failure, and returns an error message in w because why is not a UNIX command.

Algorithm

The MATLAB software 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. If SHELL is also empty or not defined, MATLAB uses /bin/sh.