For Windows:
[~, a] = system ('getmac');
mac = regexp(a, '([0-9A-F]{2}-){5}[0-9A-F]{2}', 'match', 'once'); % get first one in string
mac = regexp(a, '([0-9A-F]{2}-){5}[0-9A-F]{2}', 'match'); % get all in cellstr
For OSX and Linux, it is a slightly different:
[~, a] = system ('ifconfig');
mac = regexp(a, '([0-9a-f]{2}:){5}[0-9a-f]{2}', 'match', 'once'); % get first one in string
mac = regexp(a, '([0-9a-f]{2}:){5}[0-9a-f]{2}', 'match'); % get all in cellstr
If java is available, it is faster than system command, and the solution is OS-independent:
ni = java.net.NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces;
while ni.hasMoreElements
m = ni.nextElement.getHardwareAddress;
if numel(m)==6 && ~all(m==0) % accept it if length==6 and not all zeros
mac = typecast(m, 'uint8'); % uint8 format
mac = sprintf('%02X-%02X-%02X-%02X-%02X-%02X', mac); % Windows hex format
% mac = sprintf('%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x', mac); % unix hex format
break; % stop after finding first one, likely ethernet adaptor
end
end
