How can I set a custom path in Matlab R2017a on MacOS?

I run Matlab on MacOS 10.12.5, with various useful programs installed in "non-standard" directories using Fink. With R2016b and earlier I added the line ". /sw/bin/init.sh" to the end of the ".matlab7rc.sh" file in my home directory, to add these paths to the Matlab command line. That script, which is part of Fink, prepends "/sw/bin" and a couple of other directories to the search path (environment variable $PATH); the result in R2016b is:

>> !echo $PATH
/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin

However, this doesn't seem to work in R2017a; the only directories in Matlab's search path are /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, and /sbin. How can I get Matlab to look in other directories?

Answer 1

[Royi Avital]

You should use setenv() to set the path.

Pay attention that usually you want to add something to the path and not override it. Hence do something like:

PATH_SEP = pathsep();
myDir = '/some/dir/in/my/mac/';
currPath = getenv('PATH');
setenv('PATH', [currPath, PATH_SEP, myDir]);

Of course this is the MATLAB way. You could also just use system command:

!export PATH=$PATH:/my/path

[Povl Abrahamsen]

Thank you very much!

This solution worked, when I added the code to /Applications/MATLAB_R2020a.app/toolbox/local/matlabrc.m

Answer 2

[Shashank]

Hi Poul,

You can try using a startup.m File

The startup.m file is for specifying startup options. You can add folders to the search path by including addpath statements in a startup.m file. For example, to add the specified folder, /home/username/mytools to the search path at startup, include this statement in a startup.m file:

 addpath /home/username/mytools

- Shashank

[Povl Abrahamsen]

This question is about paths for running command line programs, not Matlab scripts. So "addpath" is not relevant.