MATLAB Object-Oriented Programming

Implement Copy for Handle Classes

In this section...

“Copy Method for Handle Classes” on page 7-35

“Customize Copy Operation” on page 7-36

“Copy Properties That Contain Handles” on page 7-37

“Exclude Properties from Copy” on page 7-40

Copy Method for Handle Classes

Copying a handle variable results in another handle variable that refers to the same

object. You can add copy functionality to your handle class by subclassing

matlab.mixin.Copyable. The inherited copy method enables you to make shallow

copies of objects of the class. The CopyObj class shows the behavior of copy operations.

classdef CopyObj < matlab.mixin.Copyable

properties

Prop

end

end

Create an object of the CopyObj class and assign the handle of a line object to the

property Prop.

a = CopyObj;

a.Prop = line;

Copy the object.

b = copy(a);

Confirm that the handle variables a and b refer to different objects.

a == b

ans =

logical

0

Implement Copy for Handle Classes