Is there a -batch option prior to 2019a, i.e., in 2017a

In version 2019a there is a -batch option for running matlab non-interactively that does not start the desktop. Is there an equivalent option for earlier versions of matlab, e.g., 2017a?

Answer 1

[Tom Holz]

[ EDIT: the command-line below is wrong. See Edric and Steven's comments for the correct way to emulate batch functionality on older releases. ]

Yes on Linux:

matlab -nodesktop -nodisplay -r myscript.m

On Windows, that syntax can still be used to run batch scripts, but it still opens a minimal terminal window.

.

[Edric Ellis]

That's not quite right - the -r option takes a MATLAB expression, not the script filename. Also, -nodisplay implies -nodesktop, so is not necessary. Finally, -batch quits MATLAB after execution. So, putting it all together, you need this:

$ matlab -nodisplay -r 'try, myscript; catch E, disp(getReport(E)); end, exit'

[Steven Lord]

You probably also want to add the -logfile startup option with the name of a log file as that option's value, so if something does go wrong the output of disp(getReport(E)) gets written to a file you can review later.

[Tom Holz]

Thanks for the corrections. I'd always wondered if -nodisplay and -nodesktop were redundant.

I also like how you handle exceptions to guarantee that exit is called.

[Walter Roberson]

There are a small number of exceptions that cannot be caught: out of memory, and infinite recursion (also, control-c). I do not know what would happen in a -r if one of those was encountered.

On Mac and Linux, one technique is to use < or | i/o redirection to send commands to to standard input, as matlab will continue to read commands from standard input after an exception. For example you could

(echo 'myscript'; echo 'quit') | matlab -nodisplay

If I recall correctly it is also possible to do something similar in Windows.