AutoSaveScripts

Matlab function to periodically save modified scripts (including unsaved Untitled scripts) to a backup directory (organized by date and Matlab instance).

Typical use case is to call this function from startup.m such that this runs in the background.

Need

Matlab may close before there is an opportunity to save modified functions/scripts (e.g. Untitled scripts), e.g. OS restart or Matlab crash.

This script will check and back up all unsaved files/scripts in the Matlab editor, to prevent data loss in case Matlab closing before the opportunity to save. That said, the script's main purpose is to handle backing up unsaved Untitled scripts because Matlab does not currently save or back up these scripts.

Code header

Backup unsaved scripts (including unsaved Untitled scripts) to a backup directory every autoSaveRefresh_sec.

Backup instance folders are created and auto-incremented to handle multiple opened matlabs.

Backup directory location

Example backup directory (with defaults):

Example OS path: userpath/backup/2020-12-26/MatlabInstance3/

Example path using param names: backupDir/backupSubDirFormat/backupInstanceDir number/

Params / Debug

Params:

autoSaveRefresh_sec [default 500] Refresh time in seconds.
backupOnlyUntitled [default false] If true, only unsaved Untitled scripts are backed up. Otherwise, all unsaved files are backed up.

Debug flags:

debug.stopOnError [default false] Stop (rethrow) if timer errors are encountered.
debug.keyboardOnError [default false] Pause if timer errors are encountered (if true, will pause before the rethrowing the error).
debug.verbosePrints [default false] Prints when creating the backup dir and saving backup scripts, see local function DebugPrintf.

Testing

Testing on MATLAB 2019b, Windows OS