Start MATLAB debug mode after stepping out of file - matlab

Question

I frequently find myself in the situation, where I insert a lot of keyboard commands into my code to debug it. However, I would like to have a bit more flexibility. That's why I started writing my stahp function.
function stahp()
disp('Stahp requested.');
dbstack
disp('You can either');
disp(' 1 abort.');
disp(' 2 continue.');
disp(' 3 debug.');
in = input('Choose what to do:\n');
switch(in)
case 1
error('Stahp.');
case 2
disp('Continue.')
case 3
disp('Debug.');
keyboard % <------------------------------------ Here is my problem
otherwise
stahp();
end
end
The idea is, to let the user choose, what he wants to do (continue, abort, debug, maybe something else in the future). However, I would prefer to not start the debug mode inside the stahp function, but right after stepping out.
For example, when running
function test_stahp
a = 1
stahp()
b = 2
end
I would like to enter the debug mode right before b=2. I assume, that dbstep out can somehow be used, but the way I tried it so far, you still have to step manually out of stahp(). I am also aware, that the recursive call of stahp() in otherwise might complicate things, but I could remove that part.
Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

You can use dbstack to get the current stack and then retrieve the name of the calling function and line number that called stahp. Using this info, you can use the dbstop to create a breakpoint in the function that performed the function call. The code sample below sets the breakpoint in test_stahp on the b=2 line.
function stahp()
disp('Stahp requested.');
dbstack
disp('You can either');
disp(' 1 abort.');
disp(' 2 continue.');
disp(' 3 debug.');
in = input('Choose what to do:\n');
r=dbstack;
switch(in)
case 1
dbclear(r(2).name,num2str(r(2).line+1));
error('Stahp.');
case 2
dbclear(r(2).name,num2str(r(2).line+1));
disp('Continue.')
case 3
disp('Debug.');
dbstop(r(2).name,num2str(r(2).line+1))
otherwise
stahp();
end
end