Commands for Managing a Session
MATLAB is an interactive program for numerical computation and data visualization. You can enter a command by typing it at the MATLAB prompt ‘>>’ on the Command Window.
| Command |
Purpose |
| clc |
Clears command window. |
| clear |
Removes variables from memory. |
| exist |
Checks for existence of file or variable. |
| global |
Declares variables to be global. |
| help |
Searches for a help topic. |
| lookfor |
Searches help entries for a keyword. |
| quit |
Stops MATLAB. |
| who |
Lists current variables. |
| whos |
Lists current variables (long display). |
Commands for Working with the System
| Command |
Purpose |
| cd |
Changes current directory. |
| date |
Displays current date. |
| delete |
Deletes a file. |
| diary |
Switches on/off diary file recording. |
| dir |
Lists all files in current directory. |
| load |
Loads workspace variables from a file. |
| path |
Displays search path. |
| pwd |
Displays current directory. |
| save |
Saves workspace variables in a file. |
| type |
Displays contents of a file. |
| what |
Lists all MATLAB files in the current directory. |
| wklread |
Reads .wk1 spreadsheet file. |
Input and Output Commands
| Command |
Purpose |
| disp |
Displays contents of an array or string. |
| fscanf |
Read formatted data from a file. |
| format |
Controls screen-display format. |
| fprintf |
Performs formatted writes to screen or file. |
| input |
Displays prompts and waits for input. |
| ; |
Suppresses screen printing. |
| Format Code |
Purpose |
| %s |
Format as a string. |
| %d |
Format as an integer. |
| %f |
Format as a floating point value. |
| %e |
Format as a floating point value in scientific notation. |
| %g |
Format in the most compact form: %f or %e. |
| \n |
Insert a new line in the output string. |
| \t |
Insert a tab in the output string. |
| Format Function |
Display up to |
| format short |
Four decimal digits (default). |
| format long |
16 decimal digits. |
| format short e |
Five digits plus exponent. |
| format long e |
16 digits plus exponents. |
| format bank |
Two decimal digits. |
| format + |
Positive, negative, or zero. |
| format rat |
Rational approximation. |
| format compact |
Suppresses some line feeds. |
| format loose |
Resets to less compact display mode. |
Vector, Matrix and Array Commands
| Command |
Purpose |
| cat |
Concatenates arrays. |
| find |
Finds indices of nonzero elements. |
| length |
Computes number of elements. |
| linspace |
Creates regularly spaced vector. |
| logspace |
Creates logarithmically spaced vector. |
| max |
Returns largest element. |
| min |
Returns smallest element. |
| prod |
Product of each column. |
| reshape |
Changes size. |
| size |
Computes array size. |
| sort |
Sorts each column. |
| sum |
Sums each column. |
| eye |
Creates an identity matrix. |
| ones |
Creates an array of ones. |
| zeros |
Creates an array of zeros. |
| cross |
Computes matrix cross products. |
| dot |
Computes matrix dot products. |
| det |
Computes determinant of an array. |
| inv |
Computes inverse of a matrix. |
| pinv |
Computes pseudoinverse of a matrix. |
| rank |
Computes rank of a matrix. |
| rref |
Computes reduced row echelon form. |
| cell |
Creates cell array. |
| celldisp |
Displays cell array. |
| cellplot |
Displays graphical representation of cell array. |
| num2cell |
Converts numeric array to cell array. |
| deal |
Matches input and output lists. |
| iscell |
Identifies cell array. |
Plotting Commands
| Command |
Purpose |
| axis |
Sets axis limits. |
| fplot |
Intelligent plotting of functions. |
| grid |
Displays gridlines. |
| plot |
Generates xy plot. |
| print |
Prints plot or saves plot to a file. |
| title |
Puts text at top of plot. |
| xlabel |
Adds text label to x-axis. |
| ylabel |
Adds text label to y-axis. |
| axes |
Creates axes objects. |
| close |
Closes the current plot. |
| close all |
Closes all plots. |
| figure |
Opens a new figure window. |
| gtext |
Enables label placement by mouse. |
| hold |
Freezes current plot. |
| legend |
Legend placement by mouse. |
| refresh |
Redraws current figure window. |
| set |
Specifies properties of objects such as axes. |
| subplot |
Creates plots in subwindows. |
| text |
Places string in figure. |
| bar |
Creates bar chart. |
| loglog |
Creates log-log plot. |
| polar |
Creates polar plot. |
| semilogx |
Creates semilog plot. (logarithmic abscissa). |
| semilogy |
Creates semilog plot. (logarithmic ordinate). |
| stairs |
Creates stairs plot. |
| stem |
Creates stem plot. |
