how to export figure data into a .mat file

X=[0:.1:10];
Y=rand(length(X));  
plot(X,Y)

is there a way to add a menu item to the figure window to save data (X,Y) into a file (have the user specify file name and location when they click on this menu item)

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

You can use uicontextmenu() to create a context menu, and you can set that to be the UiContextMenu property of an object such as an axes (and of anything else on the axes that you want to be independently clickable for other reasons, as context menus are sensitive to context)

Probably more often one would create a uicontrol('style','pushbutton') to do the work.

Use uiputfile() to have the user select a suitable output file.

Answer 2

[Thomas]

In the figure gui click..

 File>Save Workspace As..>'Any filename'

[A]

the figure is generated within a function so it does not exist in the workspace