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MAT-File API Library and Include Files

MATLAB® provides include and library files to write programs to read and write MAT-files. The following table lists the path names to these files. The term matlabroot refers to the root folder of your MATLAB installation. The term arch is a unique string identifying the platform.

MAT-File API Folders

Platform

Contents

Folder

Microsoft® Windows®

Include files

matlabroot\extern\include

Libraries

matlabroot\bin\win64

Examples

matlabroot\extern\examples\eng_mat

macOS
Linux®

Include files

matlabroot/extern/include

Libraries

matlabroot/bin/arch

Examples

matlabroot/extern/examples/eng_mat

MAT-File API Include Files

The matlabroot\extern\include folder holds header files containing function declarations with prototypes for the routines that you can access in the API Library. These files are the same for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. The folder contains:

  • mat.h — Function prototypes for mat routines

  • matrix.h — Definitions of the mxArray structure and function prototypes for matrix access routines

MAT-File API Libraries

You need the libmat and libmx shared libraries. The name of the file is platform-specific.

Import Libraries on Windows Systems

The lib folder contains the import libraries:

  • MAT-File library — matlabroot\extern\lib\win64\compiler\libmat.lib

  • Matrix library — matlabroot\extern\lib\win64\compiler\libmx.lib

  • MEX library (optional) — matlabroot\extern\lib\win64\compiler\libmex.lib

Shared Libraries on Linux Systems

The bin/arch folder, where arch is the value returned by the computer('arch') command, contains the shared libraries.

  • MAT-File library — matlabroot/bin/glnxa64/libmat.so

  • Matrix library — matlabroot/bin/glnxa64/libmx.so

  • MEX library (optional) — matlabroot/extern/bin/glnxa64/libmex.so

Shared Libraries on macOS Systems

The bin/arch folder, where arch is the value returned by the computer('arch') command, contains the shared libraries. For example, on Apple macOS 64-bit systems, the folder is bin/maci64:

  • MAT-File library — matlabroot/bin/macos/libmat.dylib

  • Matrix library — matlabroot/bin/macos/libmx.dylib

  • MEX library (optional) — matlabroot/extern/bin/macos/libmex.dylib

Example Files

The extern/examples/eng_mat folder contains C/C++ and Fortran source code for examples demonstrating how to use the MAT-file routines.