💻 8. AWS CLI from within MATLAB

The AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) provides a consistent command-line interface for interacting with AWS services.
AWS CLI commands for different services are documented in the https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/cli/.

This MATLAB function acts as a wrapper around the AWS CLI, allowing you to run AWS CLI commands directly from the MATLAB command prompt.

Important

This function assumes:

  • The AWS CLI is installed and available on your system PATH.

  • AWS CLI is configured with valid credentials (via the default provider chain or aws configure).

🧩 8.1 Examples

Run an AWS CLI command from MATLAB:

aws('s3api list-buckets')

Alternatively, you can omit parentheses:

aws s3api list-buckets

Output Behavior

  • If no output arguments are specified, the command output is echoed to the MATLAB Command Window.

  • If output arguments are provided, the function returns:

    • status — exit status of the CLI command.

    • output — parsed output (struct by default).

Example:

[status, output] = aws('s3api','list-buckets');

output =
  struct with fields:
    Owner: [1x1 struct]
    Buckets: [15x1 struct]

By default, JSON output from AWS CLI is converted to a MATLAB struct for easier programmatic use.
If you specify --output text or --output table, the output will be returned as a character vector.

✅ Key Features

  • Supports name-value arguments for AWS CLI options.

  • Automatically decodes JSON output into MATLAB structs.

  • Falls back to raw text for non-JSON formats.

📘 Notes & Best Practices

  • Ensure AWS CLI is installed and configured before using this function.

  • Use json output for structured data; other formats (text, table) return raw strings.

  • Handle errors gracefully using try/catch when integrating into scripts.