How do I get the handles of all open figures in MATLAB

Question

I have nine open figures in matlab (generated by another function) and I want to print them all to file. Does anyone know how to grab the handles of all open figures in MATLAB?

I know about gcf but it doesn't seem to do what I want.

Answer 1

There are a few ways to do this. One way to do this is to get all the children of the root object (represented in prior versions by the handle 0):

figHandles = get(groot, 'Children');  % Since version R2014b
figHandles = get(0, 'Children');      % Earlier versions

Or you could use the function findobj:

figHandles = findobj('Type', 'figure');

If any of the figures have hidden handles, you can instead use the function findall:

figHandles = findall(groot, 'Type', 'figure');  % Since version R2014b
figHandles = findall(0, 'Type', 'figure');      % Earlier versions

Answer 2

One of the best things to do is to NOT need to look for the handles. When you create each figure, capture its handle.

h(1) = figure;
h(2) = figure;
...

As one of the developers here told me:

They are called handles, because you are supposed to hold on to them

Answer 3

I think findall should work

handles=findall(0,'type','figure')

Answer 4

You've get fine answers for the handles mass. But another tip for the original question- print all the figures to file: you can use publish option, without dealing with figrues or handles.