textprogressbar.m

function textprogressbar(c)
% This function creates a text progress bar. It should be called with a 
% STRING argument to initialize and terminate. Otherwise the number correspoding 
% to progress in % should be supplied.
% INPUTS:   C   Either: Text string to initialize or terminate 
%                       Percentage number to show progress 
% OUTPUTS:  N/A
% Example:  Please refer to demo_textprogressbar.m

% Author: Paul Proteus (e-mail: proteus.paul (at) yahoo (dot) com)
% Version: 1.0
% Changes tracker:  29.06.2010  - First version

% Inspired by: http://blogs.mathworks.com/loren/2007/08/01/monitoring-progress-of-a-calculation/

%% Initialization
persistent strCR prevc strCRtitle;           %   Carriage return pesistent variable

% Vizualization parameters
strPercentageLength = 10;   %   Length of percentage string (must be >5)
strDotsMaximum      = 10;   %   The total number of dots in a progress bar

%% Main 
if nargin == 0
    % Progress bar  - force termination/initialization
    fprintf('\n');
    strCR = [];
    strCRtitle = [];
    prevc = [];
elseif ischar(c)
    % Progress bar - set/reset title
    if not(isempty(strCR)) && strCR(1) ~= -1
        fprintf(strCR);
    end
    if not(isempty(strCRtitle))
        fprintf(strCRtitle);
    end
    % add trailing space if not one already
    if isempty(regexp(c,'\s$', 'once'))
        c = [c ' '];
    end
    fprintf('%s',c);
    strCR = -1;strCRtitle = repmat('\b',1,numel(c)+1);
elseif isnumeric(c)
    % Progress bar - normal progress
    if isempty(prevc)
        prevc = 0;
    end
    c = floor(c);
    if c == prevc
        return
    else
        prevc = c;
    end
    percentageOut = [num2str(c) '%%'];
    percentageOut = [percentageOut repmat(' ',1,strPercentageLength-length(percentageOut)-1)];
    nDots = floor(c/100*strDotsMaximum);
    dotOut = ['[' repmat('.',1,nDots) repmat(' ',1,strDotsMaximum-nDots) ']'];
    strOut = [percentageOut dotOut];
    
    % Print it on the screen
    if strCR == -1,
        % Don't do carriage return during first run
        fprintf(strOut);
    else
        % Do it during all the other runs
        fprintf([strCR strOut]);
    end
    
    % Update carriage return
    strCR = repmat('\b',1,length(strOut)-1);
    
    if c == 100
        fprintf('\n');
    end
else
    % Any other unexpected input
    error('Unsupported argument type');
end