Publish and Share MATLAB Code

MATLAB^® provides options for presenting your code to others. You can publish your MATLAB Code files (.m) to create formatted documents or you can create and share live scripts and live functions in the Live Editor.

Create and Share Live Scripts in the Live Editor

The easiest way to create cohesive, sharable documents that include executable MATLAB code, embedded output, and formatted text is to use the Live Editor. Supported output formats include: MLX, PDF, Microsoft^® Word, HTML, and LaTeX. For details, see Create Live Scripts in the Live Editor.

Publish MATLAB Code Files (.m)

To create shareable documents using your MATLAB Code files (.m), you can publish the files. Publishing a MATLAB Code file creates a formatted document that includes your code, comments, and output. Common reasons to publish code are to share the documents with others for teaching or demonstration, or to generate readable, external documentation of your code.

This code demonstrates the Fourier series expansion for a square wave.

MATLAB Code with Markup	Published Document

To publish your code:

1. Create a MATLAB script or function. Divide the code into steps or sections by inserting two percent signs (%%) at the beginning of each section.

2. Document the code by adding explanatory comments at the beginning of the file and within each section.

   Within the comments at the top of each section, you can add markup that enhances the readability of the output. For example, the code in the preceding table includes the following markup.

   Titles	%% Square Waves from Sine Waves %% Add an Odd Harmonic and Plot It %% Note About Gibbs Phenomenon
   Variable name in italics	% As _k_ increases, ...
   LaTeX equation	% $$ y = y + \frac{sin(k*t)}{k} $$

   Note

   When you have a file containing text that has characters in a different encoding than that of your platform, when you save or publish your file, MATLAB displays those characters as garbled text.

3. Publish the code. On the Publish tab, click Publish.

   By default, MATLAB creates a subfolder named html, which contains an HTML file and files for each graphic that your code creates. The HTML file includes the code, formatted comments, and output. Alternatively, you can publish to other formats, such as PDF files or Microsoft PowerPoint^® presentations. For more information on publishing to other formats, see Specify Output File.

   In MATLAB Online™, to allow MATLAB to open output windows automatically when publishing, enable pop-up windows in your Web browser.

After publishing the code, you can share the folder containing the published files. For more information, see Share Folders in MATLAB.

The sample code that appears in the previous figure is part of the installed documentation. You can view the code in the Editor by running this command:

edit(fullfile(matlabroot,'help','techdoc','matlab_env', ...
             'examples','fourier_demo2.m'))

Add Help and Create Documentation

You can add help to your code by inserting comments at the start of a MATLAB code file. MATLAB displays the help comments when you type help file_name in the Command Window. For more information, see Add Help for Your Program.

You also can create your own MATLAB documentation topics for viewing from the MATLAB Help browser or the web. For more information, see Display Custom Documentation