Some Basic Commands in MATLAB

      

MATLAB, on opening, shows 2 screens, one of which is the command window and the other is the editor.

The command window is used to execute all the commands, while the editor is used to write your code.

When some basic commands are entered on the command window, a result corresponding to the command is displayed. The command window can perform basic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logarithm etc.

">>" is known as the command prompt. It appears automatically on every new line in the command window.

For example, when we enter "2+3" in the command window, the value 5 will be assigned to a variable.

"Ans" is a default variable, and the value is assigned to this variable if no other is specified.

>>2+3

>>Ans =

>> 5

BASIC COMMANDS IN MATLAB

A few basic commands of MATLAB are -

clock - Gives the date and time as a vector

date - gives the current date

ver - displays the current version of MATLAB installed

dir - displays files or folders in the current directory

ls - lists the files or folders in the current directory

pwd - gives the path of the present working directory

cd(path) - changes the directory to the path given inside the brackets (if the path is not specified, the directory doesn't change)

path - Gives the path to the current directory

editpath - opens a window to change the path

mkdir filename - creates a directory with the given name

copyfile filename1 filename2 - copies one file to another

who - gives the variables in the workspace (variables that are being used at present)

whos - displays the variables in the workspace with type and size

what - displays the .m,.mex and .math files

Mathematical Functions used in MATLAB - 
Some of the basic mathematical functions in MATLAB are:

sqrt(x) - to get the square root of x

exp(x) - to calculate exponent (e^x)

abs(x) - to get absolute value of x

log(x) - log base e of x

log 10(x) - log base 10 of x

factorial(x) - factorial of x

round(x) - gives the rounded value of x

ceil(x) - gives the closest integer greater than x

fix(x) - gives the closest integer lesser than x

For example,

>> 17/5

>> Ans =

>> 3.4

>> round(17/5)

>> Ans =

>> 3

>> ceil(17/5)

>> Ans =

>> 4

>> fix(17/5)

>> Ans =

>> 3

The basic commands and mathematical functions, if entered in the command window, produce the desired result. These can also be used in the text editor window as a part of a program code.