<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.5, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Startup Files (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))</title> <meta name="description" content="Startup Files (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="keywords" content="Startup Files (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <meta name="distribution" content="global"> <meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo"> <link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top"> <link href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" rel="index" title="Concept Index"> <link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> <link href="Invoking-Octave-from-the-Command-Line.html#Invoking-Octave-from-the-Command-Line" rel="up" title="Invoking Octave from the Command Line"> <link href="Quitting-Octave.html#Quitting-Octave" rel="next" title="Quitting Octave"> <link href="Command-Line-Options.html#Command-Line-Options" rel="prev" title="Command Line Options"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em} blockquote.smallindentedblock {margin-right: 0em; font-size: smaller} blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em} kbd {font-style: oblique} pre.display {font-family: inherit} pre.format {font-family: inherit} pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap} span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal} span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal} ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} --> </style> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="octave.css"> </head> <body lang="en"> <a name="Startup-Files"></a> <div class="header"> <p> Previous: <a href="Command-Line-Options.html#Command-Line-Options" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Command Line Options</a>, Up: <a href="Invoking-Octave-from-the-Command-Line.html#Invoking-Octave-from-the-Command-Line" accesskey="u" rel="up">Invoking Octave from the Command Line</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> <hr> <a name="Startup-Files-1"></a> <h4 class="subsection">2.1.2 Startup Files</h4> <a name="index-initialization"></a> <a name="index-startup"></a> <p>When Octave starts, it looks for commands to execute from the files in the following list. These files may contain any valid Octave commands, including function definitions. </p> <a name="index-startup-files"></a> <dl compact="compact"> <dt><code><var>octave-home</var>/share/octave/site/m/startup/octaverc</code></dt> <dd><a name="index-site-startup-file-1"></a> <p>where <var>octave-home</var> is the directory in which Octave is installed (the default is <samp>/usr/local</samp>). This file is provided so that changes to the default Octave environment can be made globally for all users at your site for all versions of Octave you have installed. Care should be taken when making changes to this file since all users of Octave at your site will be affected. The default file may be overridden by the environment variable <code><span class="nolinebreak">OCTAVE_SITE_INITFILE</span></code><!-- /@w -->. </p> </dd> <dt><code><var>octave-home</var>/share/octave/<var>version</var>/m/startup/octaverc</code></dt> <dd><a name="index-version-startup-file"></a> <p>where <var>octave-home</var> is the directory in which Octave is installed (the default is <samp>/usr/local</samp>), and <var>version</var> is the version number of Octave. This file is provided so that changes to the default Octave environment can be made globally for all users of a particular version of Octave. Care should be taken when making changes to this file since all users of Octave at your site will be affected. The default file may be overridden by the environment variable <code><span class="nolinebreak">OCTAVE_VERSION_INITFILE</span></code><!-- /@w -->. </p> </dd> <dt><code>~/.octaverc</code></dt> <dd><a name="index-personal-startup-file"></a> <a name="index-octaverc-_007e_002f_002eoctaverc_007e_002f_002eoctaverc-1"></a> <p>This file is used to make personal changes to the default Octave environment. </p> </dd> <dt><code>.octaverc</code></dt> <dd><a name="index-project-startup-file"></a> <a name="index-octaverc-_002eoctaverc_002eoctaverc-1"></a> <p>This file can be used to make changes to the default Octave environment for a particular project. Octave searches for this file in the current directory after it reads <samp>~/.octaverc</samp>. Any use of the <code>cd</code> command in the <samp>~/.octaverc</samp> file will affect the directory where Octave searches for <samp>.octaverc</samp>. </p> <p>If you start Octave in your home directory, commands from the file <samp>~/.octaverc</samp> will only be executed once. </p> </dd> <dt><code>startup.m</code></dt> <dd><a name="index-startup_002em"></a> <p>This file is used to make personal changes to the default Octave environment. It is executed for <small>MATLAB</small> compatibility, but <samp>~/.octaverc</samp> is the preferred location for configuration changes. </p></dd> </dl> <p>A message will be displayed as each of the startup files is read if you invoke Octave with the <samp>--verbose</samp> option but without the <samp>--silent</samp> option. </p> <hr> <div class="header"> <p> Previous: <a href="Command-Line-Options.html#Command-Line-Options" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Command Line Options</a>, Up: <a href="Invoking-Octave-from-the-Command-Line.html#Invoking-Octave-from-the-Command-Line" accesskey="u" rel="up">Invoking Octave from the Command Line</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> </body> </html>