This question already has answers here:
Access m-files in a subfolder without permanently adding it to the path
(2 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
I'm working on a project containing some subprojects. Each subproject is located in a own folder.
projDir/subProj1
/subProj2
and so on. Each subproject is a standalone running project. But now I want to use some functions of i.e. subProj1 in subProj2. But the functions in subProj1 should not be visible in general. So it is no good idea, to add the subProj1-path to the MATLAB-Path generally. Hence, I want to add this path in my .m-file stored in subProj2 and after finishing this script, the path should be removed (automatically) by it's own. Is there any possibility, to add a path temporarily to the MATLAB-path variable?
The addpath function only adds the files/folder to your path for the current Matlab session, assuming you don't call savepath. You also might find the genpath function helpful if you want to add subfolders.
You can use path(path_to_add,path) to add a path to the current path variable. Unless you do savepath you won't affect the global path.
I would do path(strcat(pwd,'\subProj1',path) etc. in the config .m script you have.
Related
This question already has an answer here:
How to Set Path in Matlab?
(1 answer)
Closed 7 years ago.
I have created my own mfile and would like to add it permanently lie built in functions so that I dont have to specify path. Is there a way to do it?
You should store your .m file (either script or function) in a folder belonging to the MatLab search path.
To add your own folder to the MatLab search path you can use eiterh:
the Set Path tool, available on the MatLab Home toolbar
use the buil-in function path (from the Command Window or, for example, as part of a script)
E. g.
path(path,'c:\my_folder\my_sub_folder')
Hope this helps.
Write your file and save it and then add the containing folder to the MATLAB search path. You do not need to look for it every time.
addpath('c:/matlab/myfiles')
Note: your filename should not exist within MATLAB, otherwise your file would be the default one, when you call that command.
You can also do most of the work from command-line:
First, create a folder,
mkdir('c:/matlab/myfiles')
Add it to the top of your search path,
addpath('c:/matlab/myfiles')
and then save the search path for future MATLAB sessions
savepath c:/matlab/myfiles/pathdef.m
My team is trying to standardise our Matlab paths so that everyone has the same.
I have a list of the default matlab path that we should all have.
So we would like to have a script that runs when matlab opens to make sure that our paths are set to the default matlab path. So if a path has been added to our default list it will be added in the correct place.
Is this possible in Matlab?
I read about startup but that seems to do with set your working directory which is different to what I am trying to do.
You can change which directory MATLAB starts in using the userpath function so that whenever you start up MATLAB, the path will automatically redirect here.
This may be useful if you have MATLAB running on a network per se, and multiple instances can start in the same network directory.
See more from MathWorks here: http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/matlab-startup-folder.html
However, if you want to standardize everything so that everyone has access to the same path, you can use startup to add directories / folders to MATLAB's path, but if you want to complete the package, use userpath to get MATLAB to start at a specified directory.
Your startup.m file may look something like this:
addpath('/folder/to/add/one');
addpath('/folder/to/add/two');
addpath('/folder/to/add/three');
addpath('/folder/to/add/four');
Then set your userpath with the function to complete everything:
userpath('/folder/to/start');
addpath('/folder/to/start');
Also make sure you add this new folder to your startup.m file too.
Include a path or addpath line in file startup.m. For example, to add folder aaa\bbb to the path the line would be
addpath('aaa\bbb')
Note that each user may have a different startup.m file. You may need to create it, if it doesn't already exist.
I have created a few general function in MATLAB that I intend to use for a few separate projects. However I do not want to copy the function into each separate project function.
I have created a folder called Misc_Function when I have placed these general functions. I know I can reference this functions explicitly by using the path and function name when trying to call the functions.
I believe you can add a path (in my case 'H:\MyTeam\Matlab\Misc_Function') when MATLAB loads up is that correct and if so how do you do this?
Assuming the above can be done I'm interested to know how MATLAB finds the correct function. In my understanding (guess work) MATLAB has a list of paths that it check trying to find a function with the name specified - is that correct? If so what happens when there are functions with the same name?
MATLAB indeed has its own search path which is a collection of folders that MATLAB will search when you reference a function or class (and a few other things). To see the search path, type path at the MATLAB prompt. From the documentation:
The order of folders on the search path is important. When files with the same name appear in multiple folders on the search path, MATLAB uses the one found in the folder nearest to the top of the search path.
If you have a set of utility functions that you want to make available to your projects, add the folder to the top of the search path with the addpath function, like so
addpath('H:\MyTeam\Matlab\Misc_Function');
You have to do this everytime you start MATLAB. Alternatively, and more conveniently, save the current search path with the savepath command or add the above commands to your startup.m file.
You can check the actual paths where Matlab searches for functions using
path
You will notice, that the most top path (on start up) is a path in your home folder. For Linux this is e.g. /home/$USER/Documents/MATLAB. For Windows it is somewhere in the the c:\Users\%USER%\Documents\Matlab (I think). Placing a file startup.m in this folder allows to add additional paths using
addpath('H:\MyTeam\Matlab\Misc_Function');
or
addpath(genpath('H:\MyTeam\Matlab\Misc_Function'));
on start up of Matlab. The latter (genpath) allows to also add all subdirectories. Simply write a file startup.m and add one of above lines there.
I believe 'addpath' will add the folder to MATLAB path only for the current MATLAB session. To save the updated path for other sessions, you need to execute 'savepath' command.
As mentioned in the previous comments, adding the folder in startup.m is a good idea since it will be added to the path on MATLAB startup.
To answer your question about how MATLAB finds the correct function, MATLAB maintains a list of directories in its path in a file called pathdef.m. Any changes to the path will be written to this file (when you execute 'savepath'). The path variable is initialized with the contents of this file.
Today I stumbled upon this thread:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/newsreader/view_thread/112560
The question is basically how to make Matlab read your startup.m file regardless of where
you start your matlab session.
One of the solutions offered was:
One solution would be to ask the system administrator to add a few lines
to "matlabrc.m" that adds some pre-determined folder in the user's home
directory to the MATLAB path (say, ~/.matlabstart). Then each user can
have their own "startup.m" file inside this folder.
What I ended up doing in my system (OS X) was to add a startup.m file in:
/Applications/MATLAB_R2011a.app/toolbox/local/
In this startup.m file I added:
if exist([getenv('HOME') '/.matlabrc/startup.m'])
run([getenv('HOME') '/.matlabrc/startup.m']);
end
That way users have the option of creating the hidden folder ~/.matlabrc and inside it they can put the file startup.m. In this startup file they can tell matlab what to execute whenever they start Matlab regardless of the directory where they started it. An example of what I added to my own personal startup.m file is
addpath(genpath('/Users/jmlopez/matlabcode/'))
Now I can add as many folders inside that directory and all of them will be added
to the path every time I start Matlab automatically without having to modify the path.
The question is: Did Matlab already provided a special file like the one I created or did I just go through all this trouble to accomplish what I wanted? If the answer is the second option I gave, then, why doesn't Matlab provide this? It is such a pain in the ass to add directories to the Matlab path whenever you do not have admin permissions and I do not want to carry my startup.m file to every directory I go to. Can someone shed some light into this please?
You can save the pathdef file (which stores all the paths you add) to a custom directory. The problem however is that when matlab starts, it doesn't automatically know which custom directory you used in the previous session.
But that's where the MATLABPATH environment variable comes in. Because this allows to set the matlab starting path yourself. In linux this is simply done by setting this environment variable MATLABPATH before starting matlab (from a terminal / in your .bashrc / ...)
export MATLABPATH=$HOME/.matlab
This way you can let all users have their own pathdef file, which solves the problem of having to add them manually at startup.
EDIT
I tested out if adding startup.m to that MATLABPATH directory worked, ie: does matlab run that startup file? ... and it does. I think it doesn't work for you, because there is another startup.m file in some other (higher priority) directory (probably matlabroot), so that gets precedence. My only startup file is in MATLABPATH, so there is only one choice.
EDIT2
Nope, I added startup to matlabroot directory, and still my own startup file in .matlab gets run. Are you sure you set the MATLABPATH correctly before you started matlab?
I have several MATLAB scripts to share with my colleagues. I have put these scripts under a specified directory, e.g., /home/sharefiles
Under the MATLAB command prompt, the users can use these scripts by typing
addpath /home/sharefiles
Is there a way to automatically add this path in my matlab script, and save users the efforts of invoking addpath /home/sharefiles each time.
Sure, just add the addpath to your script.
addpath('/home/sharefiles')
If you want to recursively add subdirectories, use the genpath function:
addpath(genpath('/home/sharefiles')
Adding files to the path or one of the slower operations in Matlab, so you probably don't want to put the addpath call in the inner loop of an operation. You can also test to see if you need to add the path first.
if ~exist('some_file_from_your_tools.m','file')
addpath('/home/sharefiles')
end
Or, more directly
if isempty(strfind(path,'/home/sharefiles;'))
addpath('/home/sharefiles')
end
You could add the code posted by Pursuit to your startup.m file so that MATLAB adds it to the path automaticlly upon startup. Or, take a look at the savepath function. Lastly,
So when you Use the GUI to set path, the paths get added in the default start directory of Matlab in the pathdef.m file present there. Hence if you are running your code from any other directory either you would have to copy over this file or create a script in the startup folder. Hope this helps!!