Archives are a set of files where MATCONT stores your dynamical systems with all data specified for their analysis as well as the results of the analysis. It contains the database of Computed Objects and Curves and the database of System Descriptions. Logically, archives consist of a number of independent units each of which contains all information related to one dynamical system.

The description of the dynamical system provided by the user includes the list of the names of state variables, parameters, time and functions computing values of the RHS.

MATCONT creates a corresponding ODEfile that defines the dynamical system and a MAT-file which contains some global variables. Both files are saved in the Systems directory (which is a subdirectory of the matcontroot) as <name of the system>.m and .mat file. This directory contains also a MAT-file session.mat in which the GUI-information is stored as it was left when exiting MATCONT in the previous session. When restarting MATCONT this file is loaded and the exit situation of the previous session is restored.

Information on computed objects and curves is stored as MAT-files by MATCONT in a subdirectory <name of the system> which is subdirectory of the directory <name of the diagram (default: 'diagram')> which is on his turn a subdirectory of the directory Systems. A curve contains coordinates of points and additional data required to redraw and recompute the curve.

The fundamental global variables saved in that MAT-file are the MATLAB structures gds and cds. The structure gds contains the information concerning all windows open at a certain time and collects the information fed into the system by the GUI. cds is needed in the GUI to store a computed curve from whose points a new curve is to be started. Both gds and cds contain fields in which computational options are stored. The other global variables are specific to certain types of computed curves. They are used to collect information from the computational routines so that it can be stored in the database. In particular, eds, lpds,bpds and hds contain global information specific to the continuation of equilibria, limit points, branch points and Hopf points, respectively. These global variables also allow computational routines to share information.

MATCONT creates all necessary files automatically. The user does not deal with them directly.

(The root directory of MATCONT is the location of the Master program matcont.m . The other files are kept in a number of separate directories.)