Call a function by an external application without opening a new instance of Matlab

Question

Is there a way to call Matlab functions from outside, in particular by the Windows cmd (but also the Linux terminal, LUA-scripts, etc...), WITHOUT opening a new

Answer 1

If you're starting up MATLAB from the command line with the -r option in the way you describe, then it will always start a new instance as you describe. I don't believe there's a way around this.

If you are calling MATLAB from a C/C++ application, MATLAB provides the MATLAB engine interface, which would connect to any running instance of MATLAB.

Otherwise the MATLAB Automation Server interface that you mention is the right way to go. If you're finding it complicated, I would suggest posting a separate question detailing what you've tried and what difficulties you're having.

For completeness, I'll mention that MATLAB also has an undocumented interface that can be called directly from Java - however, as it's undocumented it's very difficult to get right, and is subject to change across versions so you shouldn't rely on it.

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Edit: As of R2014b, MATLAB makes available the MATLAB Engine for Python, via which you can automate MATLAB from a Python script. And as of R2016b, there is also the MATLAB Engine for Java. If anyone was previously considering the undocumented Java techniques mentioned above, this would now be the way to go.