Why is CTRL+C unpredictable or ineffective when trying to terminate a script running in MATLAB 6.0 (R12) on a SGI machine running the Common Desktop Environment (CDE)?

When MATLAB R12 is launched from a SGI machine using the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) icon, CTRL+C does not successfully terminate running scripts as it does when MATLAB is launched from a shell command line.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

If MATLAB 6.x (R12.x and R13) is launched from a CDE icon on a SGI machine, a minor conflict exists between the CDE and the MATLAB desktop. This causes CTRL+C to be ineffective in terminating a running MATLAB script.

There are two ways to work around this issue:

1. Open a shell and launch MATLAB from the command line.

2. Change the CDE icon so that it launches "matlab -nodesktop" rather than simply "matlab".

You can initiate the desktop from the MATLAB command line by typing:

desktop

Loading the desktop after MATLAB has been launched seems to avoid the conflict and allows CTRL+C to be used properly.