How can I pass a figure from one function to another without printing the figure?

Hello, I'd like to pass a figure from a 'called' function to it's calling function. Any idea how this is done? The figure is plotted as:

      figure(1)
      hold on
      zoom on
      axis square
for i=1:ele_n
      line(defx(el_disp(i,:)),defy(el_disp(i,:)),'Color','r');
      line(x(el_disp(i,:)),y(el_disp(i,:)));
end

[Stephen23]

Just pass the figure handle:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/creating_plots/how-to-work-with-graphics-objects.html

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/creating_guis/share-data-among-callbacks.html

I recommend guidata or nested functions, both of which are simple and intuitive.