MATLAB Programming

Saving and Loading MAT-Files
Saving and Loading MAT-Files
This section explains how to save the variables in your MATLAB session to a
binary file called a MAT-file, and how to load them back into your MATLAB
workspace. It covers the following:
• “Exporting Data to MAT-Files” on page 6-23
• “Importing Data from MAT-Files” on page 6-30
MAT-files are double-precision, binary, MATLAB format files. They can be
created on one machine and later read by MATLAB on another machine with
a different floating-point format, retaining as much accuracy and range as
the different formats allow. They can also be manipulated by other programs
external to MATLAB.
Exporting Data to MAT-Files
This section covers
• “Using the save Function” on page 6-23
• “Saving Structures” on page 6-24
• “Appending to an Existing File” on page 6-25
• “Data Compression” on page 6-26
• “Unicode Character Encoding” on page 6-27
• “Optional Output Formats” on page 6-28
• “Storage Requirements” on page 6-29
• “Saving from External Programs” on page 6-30
Using the save Function
To export workspace variables to a binary or ASCII file, use the save function.
You can save all variables from the workspace in a single operation (if you
omit the filename, MATLAB uses the name matlab.mat):
save filename
6-23