extracthelp

Extract the help information of all M functions in a sub-folder

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extracthelp extracts the help lines of all M-files found int he current folder and writes them in corresponding files in a specified sub-folder.

The function is very useful in combination with the 'pcode'. The function pcode creates a pre-parsed P-files, that can be distributed to users who should not have access to the original code. However the P-files do not preserve the help information of the original functions. The 'extracthelp' function exports only the help information, thus allowing the users to use the 'help' function as usual.

extracthelp() % create the help M-files in a \phelp folder
pcode *.m % convert all .M files to .P files
movefile('*.p','.\phelp')

The \phelp folder contains thus the files you can safely distribute.

Cite As

Andrey Popov (2026). extracthelp (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/21431-extracthelp), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

Categories

Find more on Share and Distribute Software in Help Center and MATLAB Answers

General Information

MATLAB Release Compatibility

  • Compatible with any release

Platform Compatibility

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Linux
Version Published Release Notes Action
1.4.0.0

- Bugfix;
- Updated help; Comments
- mkdir and movefile functions instead of "! md ..."

1.3.0.0

Updated author information and file finctions

1.2.0.0

Fixed bug by creating and accessing folders under Unix/Mac.

1.1.0.0

License changed from GPL to BDS inside the M file.

1.0.0.0

Added functionality.