sequential try catch end block for matlab

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I'd like to run several lines of code, but I'm unsure if any line will throw an error. If an error occurs however, I'd like the script to ignore that line and continue on.

One choice would be to have a try-catch-end block, that skips over a block of code that may throw errors. However, as soon as an error occurs, the rest of the code after the error in the try-statement is not executed.

TL;TR: Do I have another choice than writing a try-catch-end block for every individual line in the following example code?

Example code:

try
  disp('1st line');
  disp('2nd line');
  PRODUCE_ERROR;  %throws an error, variable/function does not exist
  disp('3rd line'); %%%%%
  disp('4th line'); % these lines I would like to keep executing
  disp('5th line'); %%%%%
catch
  disp('something unexpected happened');
end

Output: 

1st line
2nd line
something unexpected happened

Output that would be preferred: 

1st line
2nd line
something unexpected happened
3rd line
4th line
5th line

related: Why should I not wrap every block in "try"-"catch"?

matlab try-catch
2 Answers

A simpler approach involves reading the script file line by line and evaluating each line in turn. This assumes that the script you want to run does not include any multi-line statements (such as e.g. a for with the end on a different line, or a statement broken onto multiple lines using ...). This is a strong limitation, as it is common to e.g. initialize a matrix using multiple lines of text.

This is the function:

function execute_script(fname)
fid = fopen(fname,'rt');
n = 0;
while ~feof(fid)
   cmd = fgetl(fid);
   n = n+1;
   if ~isempty(cmd)
      try
         evalin('caller',cmd);
      catch exception
         disp(['Error occurred executing line number ',num2str(n),': ',exception.message]);
      end
   end
end

It does exactly as I described above: it reads in a line, then uses evalin to evaluate that line in the caller's workspace. Any variable created is created in the caller's workspace. Any variable used is taken from the caller's workspace.

For example, I create the file testscript.m with the following contents:

A = 1;
B = 2+C; % This line needs a variable not defined in the script!
D = 5;

Next, at the MATLAB command prompt:

>> execute_script('testscript.m')
Error occurred executing line number 2: Undefined function or variable 'C'.
>> whos
  Name      Size            Bytes  Class         Attributes

  A         1x1                 8  double                  
  D         1x1                 8  double

The variable A and D were created. If I define C:

>> C=0;
>> execute_script('testscript.m')
>> whos
  Name      Size            Bytes  Class         Attributes

  A         1x1                 8  double                  
  B         1x1                 8  double                  
  C         1x1                 8  double                  
  D         1x1                 8  double

With a variable C defined, the script runs without error, and defines B also.

user_73287820
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