Python-MATLAB(R) Bridge and ipython matlab_magic

A python interface to call out to Matlab(R). Original implementation by Max Jaderberg.

This implementation also includes an ipython matlab_magic extension, which provides a much simplified interface for weaving python and Matlab code together (requires ipython > 0.13).

***AT PRESENT THIS MAY NOT WORK ON WINDOWS; BETA TESTERS WANTED ***

Usage

For examples, check out the .ipynb files

Installation

To install from the source-code. Download the code zip file. Unzip it somewhere on your machine and then issue:

python setup.py install

This should make the python-matlab-bridge import-able.

Alternatively, you can get pymatbridge at the cheese-shop.

This means that you can use:

easy_install pymatbridge

Or

pip install pymatbridge

To get things going.

API:

Initialize the Matlab class:

from pymatbridge import Matlab
mlab = Matlab()

By default the matlab executable is whatever gets called when you type matlab in your terminal, the host is localhost and the port is a random unused port.

You can specify these in the following manner:

mlab = Matlab(matlab='/Applications/MATLAB_R2011a.app/bin/matlab',
                host='192.168.0.1', port=5151)

Alternatively, if matlab is not recognized in the command-line, you can create a symlink to it's location. For example:

  ln -s /Applications/MATLAB_R2012b.app/bin/matlab ~/bin/matlab

Making sure that your ~/bin directory is on your bash PATH variable.

You can then start the MATLAB server:

mlab.start()

which will return True once connected.

You can then run any local MATLAB function contained within a .m file of the same name. For example, to call the function jk in jk.m:

%% MATLAB
function lol = jk(args)
    arg1 = args.arg1;
    arg2 = args.arg2;
    lol = arg1 + arg2;
end

by calling:

res = mlab.run_func('path/to/jk.m', {'arg1': 3, 'arg2': 5})
print res['result']

which will print 8.

Or you can run some arbitrary matlab code:

res = mlab.run_code('a=10; b=a+3')

You can shut down the MATLAB server by calling

mlab.stop()

NB: you can call MATLAB code before the server starts by adding code to the ./matlab/startup.m file.

Matlab magic:

This can be used in an ipython session in the following manner:

import pymatbridge as pymat
ip = get_ipython()
pymat.load_ipython_extension(ip)

These lines will automatically start the matlab session for you. Then, you can simply decorate a line/cell with the '%matlab' or '%%matlab' decorator and write matlab code:

%%matlab 
a = linspace(0.01,6*pi,100);
plot(sin(a))
grid on
hold on
plot(cos(a),'r')

Warnings

Python communicates with Matlab via an ad-hoc webserver. This is inherently insecure, as the Matlab instance may be directed to perform arbitrary system calls. There is no sandboxing of any kind. Use this code at your own risk.

Examples

An example MATLAB function and usage from Python is shown in test.py and test.m and there. Example notebooks are in the '.ipynb' files.