How do I launch MATLAB on Linux?

I've completed the installation and activation of MATLAB on a Linux computer. How do I launch the application?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

MATLAB must be launched from the command line on Linux.

If you completed installation as root user, you may have had the option to install symbolic links to MATLAB in a folder on your system path. If you selected to install these links you can launch MATLAB from the command line, regardless of current working directory, by typing the command:

user@host$> matlab

If this does not work, or if you did not install the symbolic links during installation, you must launch MATLAB by specifying the full path to the MATLAB start script:

user@host$> cd $MATLABROOT/bin

where $MATLABROOT is the full path to your MATLAB installation directory, ex:

/usr/local/matlab/R2009b

then launch MATLAB using the following command:

user@host$> ./matlab

See the Documentation for additional information about starting MATLAB on Linux:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/start-matlab-on-linux-platforms.html

[Walter Roberson]

legionmaster comments to Alex Bustos:

Easier than that, at least in Debian based distros; is to install the package "matlab-support" as soon the setup ends. It'll fix some gcc library problems and make the symlinks to simply invoke with "matlab" in terminal.

[Walter Roberson]

    sudo ln -s /Applications/MATLAB_R2018a.app/bin/matlab  /usr/local/bin/matlab

provided that /usr/local/bin is on your path, which might not be the case in OS-X.

See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22465332/setting-path-environment-variable-in-osx-permanently/38670834

[Walter Roberson]

/usr/local/bin/matlab might already exist on Linux, as Linux has an option to create the symbolic links.

Either way, if it exists, then you might need to update it if it is referring to an older version of MATLAB.

ls -ld /usr/local/bin/matlab

If the output starts with 'd' then it is a directory and should not be removed without further investigation. If it starts with '-' then it is an ordinary file and should not be removed without further investigation. If it starts with 's' then it is a symbolic link, and the ls output will show you want it is currently linked to; in this case to update it

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/matlab

followed by the sudo ln

Answer 2

[Mika Mäki]

For Ubuntu (and its variants) there is the package matlab-support, which creates a shortcut for MATLAB in the launcher and applies a few bugfixes created by the community. You can install it with

sudo apt install matlab-support

You might also want to have a look at the Matlab page of official Ubuntu documentation and this thread.

Answer 3

[Ish Jain]

To create a shortcut for matlab in Linux Ubuntu:

1. Open bashrc file located in ~/.bashrc in your favourite editer, e.g. vim

$ vim ~/.bashrc

2. Add matlab alias (copy the line towards the end of bashrc file)

alias matlab="/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021a/bin/matlab"

Make sure to use the correct path based on Matlab version

3. Source the bashrc file

$ source ~/.bashrc

4. Now to open matlab, just type on terminal

$ matlab

Answer 4

[Marcos Rogério Fernandes]

You can also make a shortcut (at least on Ubuntu) using gnome-panel like that:

sudo apt-get install gnome-panel (only if you don't already has installed)
sudo gnome-desktop-item-edit /usr/share/applications/ --create-new

So, into window that will appear for you, set the properties like below:

And then, will be in your applications menu a icon like that:

That way, you can run the Matlab direct from menu, also can add to dock.