Set Locale on Windows Platforms

MATLAB^® reads the user locale and system locale on Windows^® platforms. The user locale and system locale must be the same value. If these values are not the same, you might see garbled text or incorrectly displayed characters.

MATLAB does not support every locale setting. If your locale is not supported, MATLAB uses the default locale en_US_POSIX.US-ASCII, also known as C locale.

When you change the system locale, restart your system; otherwise, you might see unexpected behaviors.

Locale on Windows 10 Platforms

The following instructions are based on Version 10.0.16299 Build 16299. Refer to your version of Windows 10 documentation for information about setting region information using the Settings app.

From Time & Language, select Region & language.
Under Related Settings, select Additional date, time, & regional settings.
Select Region to change location.
On the Formats tab, select a target locale from the Format drop-down list, and then click Apply. This action sets the user locale.
On the Administrative tab, click the Change system locale... button.
Select a target locale from the Current system locale drop-down list. This action sets the system locale.
Exit each dialog box by clicking the OK buttons.
Restart the system.

Locale on Windows 8 Platforms

To open the Control Panel, use Microsoft^® Windows 8 documentation.

User Locale

From the Control Panel, select Clock, Language, and Region > Region.
Open Formats tab.
Select a target locale from the Format drop-down list.

System Locale

From the Control Panel, select Clock, Language, and Region > Region.
Open Administrative tab.
Look in the Language for non-Unicode programs section.
Click Change system locale... button.
Select a target locale from the Current system locale drop-down list.
Restart the system.

Locale on Windows 7 Platforms

User Locale

Select Start > Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Region and Language.
Open Formats tab.
Select a target locale from the Format drop-down list.

System Locale

Select Start > Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Region and Language.
Open Administrative tab.
Look in the Language for non-Unicode programs section.
Click Change system locale... button.
Select a target locale from the Current system locale drop-down list.
Restart the system.