How to determine if my matlab code is running in Matlab instead of Octave?

We know that Octave can also run some matlab code, but if I want to make sure my code is running in true matlab instead of Octave, what code can I use to detrmine it? Thank you.

[Walter Roberson]

You could try/catch a syntax allowed in Octave but not in MATLAB

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

Look at the title bar I'd guess. Or check the "About" box. What did you click to even run either one? Don't you know what icon you clicked on? Or did you click a .m file instead of an executable?

[Heng]

No. I mean write a snippet of code and let the code, rather than the human user, determine what environment it is running in.

[Image Analyst]

And exactly how would it do that? Do you mean like you just click on the file in Windows Explorer and it launches a program? That is decided by the operating system. In Windows 7, do Start->Default Programs. If you installed MATLAB and Octave, which ever one got installed last probably set it up so that it is the default program to launch.

[Image Analyst]

After reading Walter's response I think perhaps you want your code to determine if someone else running your code is running Octave instead of MATLAB, because obviously you would know what you ran. You can use Walter's method if you know some command that's in Octave but not in MATLAB. Another, perhaps not as reliable way, is to look at all processes running in the computer and see if Octave is running but not MATLAB. See attached demo.

Another way might be to examine the ctfroot variable to see if MATLAB is in there

if strfind(ctfroot, 'MATLAB')
  % MATLAB is running.
end

[Christopher Crawford]

MatlabR2019b says

'ctfroot' requires one of the following:

MATLAB Compiler

MATLAB Compiler SDK

It may be dangerous, but I used something similar:

if strfind(path,'MATLAB') 1, else 0, end

[Image Analyst]

@Christopher Crawford Did you try this on the command line?

>> ctfroot

ans =

'C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2021b'

I do have the compiler toolbox though.

Alternatively you can inspect prefdir

if strfind(prefdir, 'MATLAB')
    % MATLAB is running.
end

Answer 2

[Ahmed Salah]

Look at this answer on StackOverflow