MATLAB: How to copy an existing figure onto another figure as a subplot using MATLAB 7.10 (R2010a)

copyfigMATLAB

I have some figures saved as FIG-files. I want to copy them onto a new figure as subplots.

Best Answer

The following example demonstrates how one may copy an existing figure onto a new figure as a subplot:
%%Create dummy figures for demonstration and save them in current folder 
% The first figure does not contain a legend
f = figure; 
surf(peaks) 
hgsave(f,'one.fig') 
close(f) 
% The second figure contains a legeng and requires slightly different
% treatment
f = figure; 
t = 0:pi/50:10*pi; 
plot(t, sin(t));
legend(gca, 'sinx')
hgsave(f,'two.fig') 
close(f) 
%%New figure 
f = figure; 
a1 = subplot(2,1,1); 
a2 = subplot(2,1,2); 
%%Copy first existing figure on first subplot 
% Open exiting figure 

f_c = openfig('one.fig'); 
% Identify axes to be copied 

axes_to_be_copied = findobj(f_c,'type','axes'); 
% Identify the children of this axes 

chilred_to_be_copied = get(axes_to_be_copied,'children'); 
% Identify orientation of the axes 

[az,el] = view; 
% Copy the children of the axes 

copyobj(chilred_to_be_copied,a1); 
% Set the limits and orientation of the subplot as the original figure 

set(a1,'Xlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'XLim')) 
set(a1,'Ylim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'YLim')) 
set(a1,'Zlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'ZLim')) 
view(a1,[az,el]) 
% One may set other properties such as labels, ticks etc. using the same 

% idea 

% Close the figure 

close(f_c); 
%%Copy second existing figure on second subplot 
% This figure contains a legend whose type is 'axes' hence it would require
% special treatment
% Open exiting figure 
f_c = openfig('two.fig'); 
% Identify axes to be copied 
axes_to_be_copied = findobj(f_c,'type','axes', '-not', 'tag', 'legend');
% Identify the Legend
legend_to_be_copied = findobj(f_c,'type','axes', 'tag', 'legend');
% Identify the children of this axes 
chilred_to_be_copied = get(axes_to_be_copied,'children'); 
% Identify orientation of the axes 
[az,el] = view; 
% Copy the children of the axes 
copyobj(chilred_to_be_copied,a2);
% If there is a legend
if isfloat(legend_to_be_copied)
    copyobj(legend_to_be_copied, f);
end
% Set the limits and orientation of the subplot as the original figure 
set(a2,'Xlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'XLim')) 
set(a2,'Ylim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'YLim')) 
set(a2,'Zlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'ZLim')) 
view(a2,[az,el]) 
% One may set other properties such as labels, ticks etc. using the same 
% idea 
% Close the figure 
close(f_c);
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