How to check if an (.exe) file is installed or not?

Hello everyone,

I am using MATLAB R2019b on windows 10.

I am designing a GUI, i need when the user pushes the Start button, MATLAB automatically checks if "FreeFem++" program is installed on the device or not?

i read about the command:

exist launchff++.exe

But it only searches in the current folder where the GUI exists, not on all the device.

And if the program is installed, I don't know its location.

So how can i search for the file everywhere or more importantly in the control panel?

I tried:

exist 'Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features'

but it doesn't work, apparently exist command doesn't have access to search in the control panel.

Thank you in advance.

[Hari Krishna Ravuri]

I understand that, you are trying to find whether an application is installed or not using exist.

The syntax of exist is

exist name searchType

name can include a partial path, but must be one of these:

• A folder on the search path
• In a folder on the search path
• The current folder
• In the current folder.

“Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features” is not a valid path.

Please refer https://in.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/system.html

[Wael Wanis]

Then "exist" command is not the solution that I seek because I don't know the path of the file that I am searching for. I don't know if the file exits in the first place or not.

I don't understand how "system" command is relevant to know if a program is installed or not.

"system" command opens another software or a file that exists in the current folder.

[Wael Wanis]

i figured out how to use "system" command to check if the program is installed or not.

Thank you for pointing me towards it.

Answer 1

[Hari Krishna Ravuri]

system is used to execute operating system command and return the output.The function starts a new cmd/shell process, executes the command, exits the process, and returns to the MATLAB process.Please refer https://in.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/system.html for more information regarding system.

In this case,as you are using a Windows10 machine, you may consider executing the below instruction to get the list of installed applications.

system("wmic product get name,version")

Hope this helps!

[Wael Wanis]

thank you.

I used system command to check it and it works.

However this exact line "system("wmic product get name,version")" didn't show me all the installed programs that I have, maybe it only shows those on C drive?

anyway thanks again

[Noah Kilps]

Hello,

I have a follow up question to this. What if I only want to know if excel is installed? how would

system("wmic product get name,version")

be written differently?