Hi Xuelin, Just seen your new post, but I think the error message is clearer in this one, and almost certainly from the same problem: > system(['sh -c "FSLOUTPUTTYPE=NIFTI_PAIR; export FSLOUTPUTTYPE; $FSLDIR/bin/avwmaths ', fname, ' ', tmpname,'"']); [...] > "sh; line 1: /bin/avwmaths: No such file or directory" The error shows that $FSLDIR/bin/avwmaths expanded to just /bin/avwmaths, or in other words that $FSLDIR is not set. You probably need to run something like this first: system(['sh -c "source /path/to/your/fsldir/etc/fslconf/fsl.sh"']); Or maybe just start Matlab after you have set-up FSL in the terminal window. Hopefully after that, something like system('echo $FSLDIR'); should show the right location for FSL. For example, if I run the following lines: fslsh = '/my/path/to/fsl/etc/fslconf/fsl.sh'; cmd = 'avwstats++ $FSLDIR/etc/standard/avg152T1 -x'; system(['sh -c "source ' fslsh '"']); [stat out] = system(['sh -c "' cmd '"']) I get the result: status = 0 output = 77 76 14 Hope that helps, Ged