Question

In MATLAB R2011b, I have a script which explicitly specifies a figure number (say, Figure 1) and plots on it. I wish to keep this plot open and run the script again with different parameters, so that I can visually compare the new and previous plots.

How can I rename the previous figure (to, say, Figure 2) so that the new plot does not overwrite it, and thus allowing both plots to be visible, without

• Modifying the script, or
• Saving the previous figure as a .fig file and reopening it as another figure

from both

1. The command line, and
2. using the figure’s GUI?

Answer 1

You can use getobj to copy the contents of one figure to another:

% get handle of the old figure
oldFigHandle = gcf;

% create new figure 
newFigHandle = figure+1;

% copy the contents from one figure the other
copyobj(get(oldFigHandle , 'children'), newFigHandle);

Other properties can be copied using the set and get commands:

set(newFigHandle, 'color', get(oldFigHandle , 'color'));