My codes and functions are deleted

Hello ,

I am constantly using matlab like everyday. I triedto find some code I wrote before and I never deleted them ( I am 100% sure). but I couldn't find the. how can I restore them? there are no where. not even in the recycle bin.

Please help me this is crucial it is related to my final project.

Best,

Azar

[per isakson]

See Missing matlab files help

[Adam Handley]

I had a situation where it seemed my code got corrupted and the file was emptied so lost all the lines of code that had been written. If you are saving your code to OneDrive you can go online to OneDrive and download a previous version of the document.

Answer 1

[per isakson]

AFAIK: There is no magic way to find lost files.

Maybe you saved them in the wrong place? Or renamed them?

What do you know about your lost code

• names of files
• some particular words in the files
• date when you created some of the files
• the names might exist in the command history, see How can I access the saved command history in MATLAB?

I use FileLocator Lite to search for files, which contains certain pieces of text. It's fast. (Windows)

Maybe the lost code exists in a backup somewhere.

Are you sure that files deleted in the Matlab Current folder are moved to the recycle bin?. See recycle, Set option to move deleted files to recycle folder

[Azar Alizadeh]

per isakson Thanks for answering. Frankly speaking I don't even remember I deleted that. but I searched mylaptop and searched the name of the file. but nothing found. that is wierd. I know the name.

I also checked the history, the nae is mentioned there. but there is no such file in my laptop nowhere.

[per isakson]

That's a tough lesson. I cannot come up with anything more to propose.

More than you think is still in your brain. The code you write now will be better than the lost one.

[Azar Alizadeh]

Yes thank you. but one last question. if I change my system's time to 2-3weeks ago, do you think I might find them? In the history.xml, I saw that I used them on 8/8

[per isakson]

It's ZERO chance that there exist a copy of your lost code outside your laptop (e.g. on a memory stick or a server somewhere) . I understand that you are sure of that. In that case I would have searched the entire drive with FileLocator Lite for the name.*. You know the name and ".*" will pick up Matlab's automatical "backups". (I'm not a Windows fan.)

Is there a chance that the lost code exists in a zip-file? Some people zip there work as a safe guard against their own mistakes.

"if I change my system's time to 2-3weeks ago, do you think I might find them?" No.

"I mean If I deleted t hat by mistake it should be in recycle bin right?" That depends on preference settings. Did you see recycle, Set option to move deleted files to recycle folder ? Google for "windows 10 recycle bin settings" (if Windows is your OS) and see, e.g How to Change Recycle Bin Settings in Windows 10.

[Image Analyst]

Yes, try that search approach. More than once I've accidentally MOVED a folder to be inside another folder when I grabbed my mouse in a hurry. It happens. 😵 So maybe it's there but it's just inside another folder.

My son recommended "Everything" to me. I tried it and it's really fast. Way better than the search built into File Explorer. Maybe this weekend I'll compare it to FileLocaterLite.

[Adam Handley]

I had a situation where it seemed my code got corrupted and the file was emptied so lost all the lines of code that had been written. If you are saving your code to OneDrive you can go online to OneDrive and download a previous version of the document.

[BA]

Hey Adam,

I had the same issue but with Box. It appears restarting your computer seems to fix the issue! My scripts are back.

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

I've had similar problems. Are you using Microsoft OneDrive? If so did you do anything like unlink your PC or change folders that are synced? I've seen that cause un-asked for deletions.

OneDrive also has a recycle bin separate from your local computer, so you might look there.

Otherwise see if there are any *.asv files anywhere on your local drive. These are backups of your m-files.

[Azar Alizadeh]

Image Analyst Thanks for answering. I checked it. but nothing. all code was in a folder and the folder is gone. I mean If I deleted t hat by mistake it should be in recycle bin right?

[Image Analyst]

I know you think you didn't intentionally delete your files.

It's possible that focus was in the "Current folder" panel on the left and a file(s) was highlighted. Then, if you didn't think you were there, but maybe thought you were in an editor window, and hit the delete key to delete something in the editor, you actually instead deleted the file(s) in the current folder panel that were highlighted.