What do versions of MATLAB such as "R2022a" stand for?

When downloading versions of MathWorks Products, they have the letter "R" followed by a year and a letter after that, like R2022a or R2021b. What does each part of this mean?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This is referring to the release version. Let's breakdown each section of "R2022a", for example, and explain what each part means.

• R = The release, or version
• 2022 = The year of the release
• a = What time of year the release became available. "a" indicates the first release of the year and if "b" appears instead, it indicates it is the second and newer release of that year.

Regardless of the year or letter, more recent public releases are usually not exclusive to many license offerings. Installation instructions for each release can be found in the link below:

How do I install MATLAB or other MathWorks Products?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/98886

[Walter Roberson]

"Regardless of the year or letter, more recent public releases are usually not exclusive to many license offerings."

I believe what that is referring to, is the fact that for a number of years, Student licences were only offered for "b" versions.