Installation guide

1 Startup and Shutdown
Star tup Directory for MATLAB
In this section...
“What Is the Startup Directory?” on page 1-8
“Startup Directory (Folder) on Windows Platforms” on page 1-8
“Startup Directory on UNIX Platforms” on page 1-9
“Changing the Startup Directory” on page 1-9
What Is the Star tup Directory?
The startup directory is the current directory in M ATLAB when it starts. The
default startup directory depends on yo ur platform and installation. Yo u can
specify a different startup directory.
Startup Directory (Folder) on Windows Platforms
When y ou start MATLAB from a Windows shortcut icon, MATLAB sets the
default startup directory to
My Documents\MATLAB or Documents\MATLAB on
Vista. This is a location whe re you can con veniently work with your person al
MATLAB files. It offers these features:
• Because the
MATLAB subfolder is the default startup directory, the current
directory is automatically the one containing the files your work with.
• So that the files you work with are on the search path, MATLAB
automatically adds the
MATLAB subfolder to the top of the s e arch path up on
startup. If the
MATLAB subfolder does not exist, MATLAB cre ates it.
• T his location also utilizes the bene fits provided by the Windows (or Vista)
standard location for storing personal files,
My Documents (or Documents).
Files in the
MATLAB subfolder are available to you when you u se other
machines, if your profile is set to roam. Because each u ser has their own
My Documents or Documents folder, other users, even those using your
machine, cannot access files in your
MATLAB subfo lder.
• W hen you upgrade to a newer version of MATLAB, MATLAB automatically
continues to use the same
MATLAB subfolder and your existing files, with all
of the above benefits.
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