ls unix command not working

When I type 'ls' in the command window, I receive the following:

??? Error using ==> ls at 36

The result of running [s l] = unix('ls')

is

s= 127
l = ''

'ls' works in terminal and I can use commands like 'cd' and 'pwd' in the matlab command window but not 'ls' for some reason. I'm using 2010b running on OSX 10.6.7

Answer 1

[Jason Ross]

Try

system('which ls')

to see if ls actually shows something.

You might need to do

system('/bin/ls')

or otherwise modify your system if it's not picking up "ls" (which I'd expect to be available)

Answer 2

[Dr. Seis]

You can use "dir" instead