savefig

Save figure and contents to FIG-file

Syntax

savefig(filename)

savefig(H,filename)

savefig(H,filename,'compact')

Description

savefig(filename) saves the current figure to a FIG-file named filename.fig.

savefig(H,filename) saves the figures identified by the graphics array H to a FIG-file named filename.fig.

savefig(H,filename,'compact') saves the specified figures in a FIG-file that can be opened only in MATLAB^® R2014b or later releases. The 'compact' option reduces the size of the .fig file and the time required to create the file.

Examples

Save Current Figure to FIG-File

Create a surface plot of the peaks function. Save the figure to the file PeaksFile.fig.

figure
surf(peaks)
savefig('PeaksFile.fig')

To open the saved figure, use the command:

openfig('PeaksFile.fig');

MATLAB creates a new figure using the saved .fig file.

Save Multiple Figures to FIG-File

Create two plots and store the figure handles in array h. Save the figures to the file TwoFiguresFile.fig. Close the figures after saving them.

h(1) = figure;
z = peaks;
surf(z)

h(2) = figure;
plot(z)

savefig(h,'TwoFiguresFile.fig')
close(h)

To open the two figures, use the command:

figs = openfig('TwoFiguresFile.fig');

figs contains the handles of the two figures created.

Save Figure Using 'compact' Option

Save a figure using the compact option:

h = figure
surf(peaks)
savefig(h,'PeaksFile.fig','compact')

To open the figure, use the command:

openfig('PeaksFile.fig');

Input Arguments

H — One or more figures

single figure | array of figures

One or more figures, specified as a single figure or an array of figures.

filename — File name

'Untitled.fig' (default) | character vector | string

File name, specified as a character vector or string. If you do not specify a file name, then MATLAB saves the file as Untitled.fig, which is the default.

If the specified file name does not include a .fig file extension, then MATLAB appends the extension. savefig does not accept other file extensions.

Example: 'ExampleFile.fig'

Data Types: char | string

'compact' — File format for R2014b or later releases

'compact'

File format for R2014b or later releases of MATLAB, specified as 'compact'. This option results in smaller .fig files. However, do not use the 'compact' option if you want to open the .fig file in versions of MATLAB before R2014b.

Tips

• You must use MATLAB to open files saved using savefig. To open the file, pass the file name to the function openfig or open. For example,

  openfig('ExampleFile.fig')

  opens the file, ExampleFile.fig, in MATLAB.

• savefig saves the full MATLAB figure. To save only part of a figure, such as an axes, or to save handles in addition to the data, use the save function to create a MAT-file.