Problem to access Matlab API with Python

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Walter Reis
Walter Reis on 10 Aug 2017
Answered: Swasti on 10 Jul 2025
Today I tried to use the Matlab API with python. I executed "python setup.py install" and got this output (seems ok):
running install
running build
running build_py
creating build
creating build/lib
creating build/lib/matlab
copying dist/matlab/mlexceptions.py -> build/lib/matlab
copying dist/matlab/mlarray.py -> build/lib/matlab
copying dist/matlab/__init__.py -> build/lib/matlab
creating build/lib/matlab/engine
copying dist/matlab/engine/futureresult.py -> build/lib/matlab/engine
copying dist/matlab/engine/enginesession.py -> build/lib/matlab/engine
copying dist/matlab/engine/matlabengine.py -> build/lib/matlab/engine
copying dist/matlab/engine/__init__.py -> build/lib/matlab/engine
copying dist/matlab/engine/engineerror.py -> build/lib/matlab/engine
creating build/lib/matlab/_internal
copying dist/matlab/_internal/mlarray_utils.py -> build/lib/matlab/_internal
copying dist/matlab/_internal/mlarray_sequence.py -> build/lib/matlab/_internal
copying dist/matlab/_internal/__init__.py -> build/lib/matlab/_internal
running install_lib
copying build/lib/matlab/engine/_arch.txt -> /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matlab/engine
running install_egg_info
Removing /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matlabengineforpython-R2015b-py2.7.egg-info
Writing /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matlabengineforpython-R2015b-py2.7.egg-info
When I start python and try to use the api, I get an error:
python
Python 2.7.12 (default, Aug 9 2017, 10:36:30)
[GCC 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-18)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import matlab.engine
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matlab/engine/__init__.py", line 60, in <module>
raise EnvironmentError('The installation of MATLAB Engine for Python is '
EnvironmentError: The installation of MATLAB Engine for Python is corrupted. Please reinstall it or contact MathWorks Technical Support for assistance.
What went wrong? Do I need a separate license for this feature? I am using CentOS 6.9, 64 bit.
Kind regards Walter Reis
  1 Comment
uchiha
uchiha on 20 Mar 2020
import matlab.engine
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<ipython-input-1-754f7d50ef2a>", line 1, in <module>
import matlab.engine
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'matlab'
I got the above! :(

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Answers (1)

Swasti
Swasti on 10 Jul 2025
Try installing using the "python -m pip install ." command instead.
There is more information on the MATLAB Engine installation page here:

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