MATLAB: Keep figures invisible until for loop is over to reduce time duration

graphsinvisibleloop

From numerous data files I extract a column and plot all those columns into one graph. I do this by looping through them all in a for-loop. Then I make, say, 4 graphs likes this for different columns in those data files. Each graph is therefore appended an extra curve in each round in the for-loop.
The code is something like this:
for j=1:noOfFiles
   figure(1); hold on; plot(A,B); hold off
   figure(2); hold on; plot(C,D); hold off
   figure(3); hold on; plot(A,D); hold off
   figure(4); hold on; plot(A,F); hold off
end
Now, the issue is that when running the script from the command window in MatLab, each of the 4 figures open in a new window and I can visually see the curves being added at high speed. But for MatLab to show this visually, a lot of unnecessary time is wasted. There can be a quite large amount of curves to be added to each graph, so time reduction is my focus now.
I would like MatLab to only focus on running the loop and not on graphically displaying the graphs along the way, since this is extra time consuming. Maybe by making them invisible during the run?
What is the smartest method for obtaining this?

Best Answer

fig1 = figure(1, 'Visible', 'off');
ax1 = axes('Parent', fig1);
hold(ax1, 'on');
fig2 = figure(2, 'Visible', 'off');
ax2 = axes('Parent', fig2);
hold(ax2, 'on');
fig3 = figure(3, 'Visible', 'off');
ax3 = axes('Parent', fig3);
hold(ax3, 'on');
fig4 = figure(4, 'Visible', 'off');
ax4 = axes('Parent', fig4);
hold(ax4, 'on');
for j = 1 : noOfFiles
  plot(ax1, A, B);
  plot(ax2, C, D);
  plot(ax3, A, D);
  plot(ax4, A, F);
end
hold(ax1, 'off');
hold(ax2, 'off');
hold(ax3, 'off');
hold(ax4, 'off');
set([fig1, fig2, fig3, fig4], 'Visible', 'on');
Related Question