license

Get license status, test existence of license, or check out feature license

Syntax

license

license('inuse')

S = license('inuse')

S = license('inuse',feature)

status = license('test',feature)

license('test',feature,toggle)

[status,errmsg] = license('checkout',feature)

Description

Use the license function to return the license number in use, list the licenses checked out in the current session, determine if a particular feature on the license is checked out, and check out a specific feature on the license. To perform license management tasks, including how to renew or deactivate a license, see Manage Your Licenses.

license returns the license number for this MATLAB^®. The return value may also be a non-number, for example, 'demo' for a demonstration version of MATLAB, or 'student', for a student version of MATLAB.

license('inuse') displays a list of the features checked out in the current MATLAB session. This list is alphabetical by license feature name. These names are the same as the valid values for the feature input.

S = license('inuse') returns an array of structures listing the features checked out in the current session.

S = license('inuse',feature) checks if feature is checked out in the current MATLAB session. If the feature is checked out, then license returns the license name in use in the current session. Otherwise, the fields of S are empty.

status = license('test',feature) tests if a license exists for the value specified by feature.

license('test',feature,toggle) enables or disables testing of the value specified by feature, depending on the value of toggle.

[status,errmsg] = license('checkout',feature) checks out a license for the specified feature. If you specify the optional second output argument, errmsg, then license returns the text of any error message encountered if the checkout is unsuccessful.

Examples

Display Licenses in Use

Display a list of licenses currently being used. license displays a list of features in alphabetical order by the license feature name for your configuration.

license('inuse')

image_toolbox
map_toolbox
matlab

Get Licenses in Use

Get a list of licenses in use. license returns a structure array.

S = license('inuse');

View the first element of S.

S(1)

ans = 

    feature: 'image_toolbox'
       user: ''

Although the structure contains a user field, that field is always empty.

Determine If License Is in Use

Determine if the license for MATLAB is in use. If the license is in use, then S is a structure array with the name of the feature that is checked out.

S = license('inuse','MATLAB')

S = 

    feature: 'matlab'
       user: ''

Determine If License Exists

Determine if a license exists for Mapping Toolbox™. If a license exists, then license returns 1.

status = license('test','MAP_Toolbox')

status =

    1

Check Out License

Check out a license for Control System Toolbox™. The status output is 1 and the errmsg output is empty if the checkout is successful.

[status,errmsg] = license('checkout','Control_Toolbox')

status =

     1


errmsg =

     ''

Input Arguments

feature — License feature name

character vector

License feature name, specified as a character vector. Values of feature are not case-sensitive. The INCREMENT lines in a license file indicate the valid features. To locate your license file, see Where can I find MATLAB license files?

toggle — Ability to test license

'enable' | 'disable'

Ability to test the existence of a license, specified as either 'enable' or 'disable'.

• If toggle is 'enable', then the syntax, license('test',feature) returns 1 when the license exists and 0 when the license does not exist.

• If toggle is 'disable', then the syntax, license('test',feature) always returns 0 (license does not exist) for the specified feature.

Note

Disabling a test for a particular license can affect other tests for the existence of the license, not just tests performed by the license command.

Output Arguments

S — Checked out licenses

array of structures

Checked out licenses, returned as an array of structures, where each structure represents a checked-out license. The structures contain two fields:

• feature — License feature name

• user — A field that is always empty

If both fields are empty, then the license is not currently checked out.

status — Test or checkout status

1 | 0

Test or checkout status, returned as 1 or 0.

• When testing for the existence of a license, 1 indicates that the license exists, and 0 indicates that the license does not exist.

  The existence of a license does not necessarily mean that the license can be checked out or that a feature on the license is installed. If all the keys of a license are in use, then the test will still return 1, but a real checkout will fail.

• When checking out a license, 1 indicates that the checkout is successful, and 0 indicates that the license function could not check out a license.

errmsg — Error message

character vector

Error message for unsuccessful license checkout, returned as a character vector. If the checkout is successful, then errmsg is empty.

Error messages usually indicate how you can resolve the issue. For example:

License checkout failed.
License Manager Error -5
Cannot find a license for FEATURENAME.

Troubleshoot this issue by visiting:
https://www.mathworks.com/support/lme/R2021b/5

The license checkout error you get can depend on what type of license you have.

Tips

• Sign in to your MathWorks^® Account for details about all licenses linked to your account, such as license type, feature use, and expiration information.

• To perform license management tasks, including how to renew or deactivate a license, see Manage Your Licenses.

Extended Capabilities

Thread-Based Environment

Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

This function fully supports thread-based environments. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions in Thread-Based Environment.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2023a: license('inuse') returns empty character vector in user field

In previous releases, the username returned was incorrect under certain circumstances. The returned structure user field is now always returned empty.

If you need to make changes to your code, the command getenv('USERNAME') is recommended instead. getenv('USERNAME') works in all releases.

Before R2023a	R2023a and later
X = license('inuse'); Y = X.user;	X = license('inuse'); Y = getenv('USERNAME');