timer

Create a timer object that runs commands after a delay or at repeated intervals.

📝Syntax

t = timer()
t = timer('PropertyName', PropertyValue, ...)

📥Input Arguments

Parameter	Description
PropertyName	Timer property name.
PropertyValue	Value assigned to the timer property.

📤Output Arguments

Parameter	Description
t	Timer object.

📄Description

timer creates a timer object. A timer object can execute a callback once, after a delay, at a future date, or repeatedly until it completes the requested number of tasks or is stopped.

The callback to execute is stored in the TimerFcn property. The callback can be a function handle, a cell array whose first element is a function handle, a character vector, or a string scalar. Function handle callbacks receive the timer object and an event structure.

Timer objects remain registered after the variable that held them goes out of scope. Use delete when a timer is no longer needed.

Important timer properties are listed below.

Property	Description
BusyMode	Action used when fixed-rate timer callbacks cannot run immediately: drop, queue, or error.
ExecutionMode	Scheduling mode: singleShot, fixedRate, fixedDelay, or fixedSpacing.
Period	Time in seconds between repeated timer executions.
StartDelay	Delay in seconds before the first timer execution.
TasksToExecute	Number of times to execute TimerFcn. The default value is Inf.
TasksExecuted	Read-only count of completed timer callback executions.
Running	Read-only value, on while the timer is active and off otherwise.
ObjectVisibility	Visibility used by timerfind. Hidden timers are still returned by timerfindall.

Use start to start a timer immediately, startat to start it at a specific date and time, stop to stop it, wait to block until it stops, and delete to remove it when it is no longer needed.

💡Examples

Create a single-shot timer that runs after a short delay.

t = timer('StartDelay', 0.1, ...
  'TimerFcn', @(src, event) disp('timer fired'));
start(t);
wait(t);
delete(t);

Create a timer that runs three times and reports the execution count.

t = timer('ExecutionMode', 'fixedSpacing', ...
  'Period', 0.05, ...
  'TasksToExecute', 3, ...
  'TimerFcn', @(src, event) disp(get(src, 'TasksExecuted')));
start(t);
wait(t);
get(t, 'TasksExecuted')
delete(t);

🕔Version History

Version	Description
2.0.0	initial version

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