Persistent user paths to Matlab and Octave

Matlab .mltbx toolbox packaged toolbox format is proprietary to Matlab. Oftentimes we desire to distribute a Matlab package as a set of .m source files instead. To add a “toolbox” or “package” to Matlab and use functions from that toolbox requires using “addpath” or “import” Matlab syntax. This example makes those paths persistent in Matlab and Octave, using example toolbox directories ~/mypkg1 and ~/mypkg2.

Normally use addpath() instead of cd(). Do not put brackets or braces around the multiple paths.

Prepend your path(s) by adding to file ~/Documents/MATLAB/startup.m (this also works with GNU Octave).

addpath('~/mypkg1','~/mypkg2')

Restart Matlab/Octave and type

path

and you should see your new toolbox directories at the top.

To have Matlab autoload startup.m set environment variable:

MATLAB_USE_USERWORK=1