`dos`

Runs a command through the Windows command interpreter and returns its status and output.

Category: Environment and Settings > System Commands

Syntax

status = dos(cmd)

Runs cmd, showing its output, and returns the exit status.

[status, out] = dos(cmd)

Captures the output in out instead of showing it.

Description

dos is the Windows-specific form of system. The command string goes to the Windows shell, so built-in commands like echo and dir work. Without an output argument the text is printed; with one, it is returned as a character vector.

Input arguments

cmd: Command line to run.

Output arguments

status: Exit code of the command; 0 means success.
out: Text the command wrote as output.

Example

Capture the output

[status, out] = dos('echo hi');
disp(status)
disp(strtrim(out))

Output

     0
hi

Notes

In MATLAB, dos is meant for Windows. Prefer system in code that must also run on other platforms.

dos