Is it possible to save a workspace when a program is paused without it ending the program?

I have been running a program for the last few days that I realized will give me an error eventually. However it won't be an issue if I can save the workspace before that happens.

I know that trying to save a function or script while a program is running will make the program quit. So I don't want to do that here, especially if it will not save the workspace.

I also currently have pausing at errors enabled. So will that pause without terminating the workspace and let me save it?

[Stephen23]

It is unclear what you actually mean by "pause":

• the function pause, in which case the answer is "not easily".
• debugging features which stop code evaluation on error, e.g. dbstop, in which case the answer is "yes".

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

Using the save function at appropriate places in the code will not cause the code to crash.

See: How to save data from Genetic Algorithm in case MATLAB crashes? for an illustration of one way to save the relevant variables in (what appears to be) a similar context.

[Goran Prpic]

Yes. However the code that is running right now does not have any such functions (that is, the saving the workspace function). And from my experience I think writing it in and saving the new code (the code that does have the save function) will make it quit running the current one.

However I tried to see what happens whe I use the pause on errors option on the editor on a shorter program and I think I should be fine.

[Star Strider]

I am not certain that I understand what you are doing and the reason my apprroach would not work in your situation. Anyway, it appears that you found a solution.

[Goran Prpic]

so to clarify.

There were situations from before where I was running a program while writing some code for a function (not sure if it was the function that was running or another function). But when I pressed the button for saving the functions, the program that was running quit debugging, it stopped.

So the reason why I don't want to just pause and save the workspace is because I am afraid that the program that is currently running will quit and my progress will be lost (or at best, in case it does save the workspace, continuing from where it stopped would be kind of a big pain).

[Star Strider]

The function that I implemented to record the current variables in that Answer is just another function call. It does not pause or interrupt anything, it simply executes and then passes control back to the calling script.