can't change startup directory when calling matlab with -automation from command line

Windows 7, Matlab 2007b.

I want to call Matlab to run a script from a windows 7 .bat file. I'm using the command:

matlab -automation -r myScript

The problem is that the script needs to access some files in (or relative to) the directory where the bat file is located. In theory this shouldn't be a problem since the startup directory should be the same directory as the bat file, from Matlab help:

"When you do not specify the -sd option, the startup directory is the directory from which you ran matlab"

But in practice the startup directory is the Matlab root directory: C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2007b

I tried also explicitly setting the startup directory using:

matlab -automation -sd "%CD%" -r myScript

but the startup directory is still Matlab root.

The problem only happens with the -automation flag, if I leave that out then it works fine - but if I leave that out then Matlab takes much longer to start and it slows down my whole process.

[Robert Wilson]

Update: I've changed my command to

matlab -nojvm -nosplash -r myScript

which is working. The downside is the with no java there's no editor and I can't debug in realtime, but it's an acceptable work around for now.

[Andrew Lee]

I'm experiencing the same problem in R2012b. In my case I need to utilize Java classes so the -nojvm flag isn't an option. Also, I can't use the post-launch 'cd' approach because I'm using a custom classpath.txt file in the launch directory (which doesn't get picked up when using the -automation flag).

Answer 1

[TAB]

Try

set CHANGE_DIR_CMD=cd('%CD%')
matlab -automation -r "%CHANGE_DIR_CMD%;myScript"