Progressdisp: A Progress Bar for MATLAB Loops

: A class to display the progress of a for-loop in the MATLAB command prompt.

Progressdisp is a lightweight and efficient MATLAB class designed to provide real-time progress updates for for-loops directly in the command prompt. It supports two primary display modes:

• Progress Bar ("bar") – A graphical bar that fills as the loop progresses.
• Text Counter ("str") – A simple message indicating the current iteration out of the total.

In addition to these features, Progressdisp now includes two methods for displaying custom text messages above the progress display:

• Disp(input_string): Displays a custom message above the progress output without removing the current progress.
• Disp_over(input_string): Overwrites any existing top text with a new message, ensuring that only the latest information is shown.

These enhancements provide extra context (such as status updates or error messages) while still keeping track of loop progress in a clean and uncluttered command prompt.

Usage Example:

Displayer = Progressdisp(300, BarOrStr="bar"); % Initialize
for i = 1:300
    Displayer.Display_progress(i); % Update progress dynamically
    pause(0.01); % Simulate processing
end

Examples using Disp or Disp_over

Displayer = Progressdisp(300, barWidth=40, BarOrStr="bar");
for i = 1:300
	Displayer.Display_progress(i);
	pause(0.01); % Simulate work
	
	% Display texts above the progress bar (every 20 loops)
	if mod(i,20)==0
		input_string=append("Custom string at loop: ",num2str(i));
		Displayer.Disp_over(input_string)
		% optionally
		% Displayer.Disp(input_string)
	end
end