programmatically setting "Confirm before exit MATLAB"

I like to set the preference "Confirm before exit MATLAB" that can be set through preferences->general->confirmation dialog->confirm before exit matlab through script. I have following code for test,

function TestExit(action)
if ~nargin
    action = 'init';
end
switch action
    case 'init'
        % Initialize the GUI		
        h0 = figure('Visible','off','WindowStyle','normal');
        % Add close event callback
        %set(h0, 'CloseRequestFcn', ...
        %	'TestExit(''close'');');        
        % Enable "Confirm before exit MATLAB"
        setpref('MATLAB', 'ConfirmExit', true);
        % Check the current value
        getpref('MATLAB', 'ConfirmExit')
    case 'close'
        ans = questdlg('Are you sure you want to quit?', ...
            'Exit', 'Yes', 'No', 'Yes');		
        if strcmp(ans, 'No')
            return;
        end		
        % Close and exit the program
        delete(gcf);
        quit		
end % End switch
end

I tested with multiple versions of MATLAB (R2020a through R2025b), it all failed to popup the confirmation dialog and exit MATLAB. I can manually start matlab, turn on the preference through GUI, and it works. my question is, is there a way to do it using scripts.

Thanks,

weiliang

[Star Strider]

Displaying the available options --

s = settings

s = 
  SettingsGroup with properties:

           Simulink: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
            driving: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
           database: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
    drivingscenario: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
        comparisons: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
           parallel: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
             matlab: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
         roadrunner: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
        kits_common: [1×1 SettingsGroup]

s.matlab.general

ans = 
  SettingsGroup 'matlab.general' with properties:

          matfile: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
    randomnumbers: [1×1 SettingsGroup]
          windows: [1×1 SettingsGroup]

There is no group for 'confirmationdialog' (or something similar) listed. That would probably have to be listed in 's.matlab.general' and since it is not, what you want to do is probably not currentlly possible. In any event, it would have to be part of the settings options.

One option is to ask Contact Us for it to be included in a future release.

.

[dpb]

The other alternative is see finish. There's a sample finishdlg.m distributed with MATLAB.

I suppose it is possible to add a personal settings group that might work but the whole thing is convoluted enough I've never tried it.

[Weiliang Dai]

Thx. I tested using finish.m and it does intercept the click 'X' on matlab window and popup dialog. and I can choose to accept quit or cancel to continue. My use case is, I have a Qt based engine app. I set the visibility for the matlab main window through the engine. If user click on 'X' on the main window, and the finish.m is in the path, it will prompt user for confirmation. The only additional thing I need to do is to make sure to remove the path to finish.m before I call engClose.

[dpb]

Is this Qt starting/controlling a MATLAB app, I gather? If that's the case, then you can add a callback function in in on the 'UIFigureCloseRequest' that traps the user action to close the window by whatever means. The default appdesigner code template for the callback function is

% Close request function: UIFigure
function UIFigureCloseRequest(app, event)
    delete(app)
    
end

Insert the user dialog call therein before the delete(app) statement with any other cleanup wanted/needed and you won't have to mess around with the user preferences nor mucking with the install path.