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Line Properties

Chart line appearance and behavior

Line properties control the appearance and behavior of a Line object. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the line chart. Use dot notation to query and set properties.

p = plot(1:10);
c = p.Color;
p.Color = 'red';

Line

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Line color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of [0 0 0] corresponds to black.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

  • An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

  • A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
"red""r"[1 0 0]"#FF0000"

Sample of the color red

"green""g"[0 1 0]"#00FF00"

Sample of the color green

"blue""b"[0 0 1]"#0000FF"

Sample of the color blue

"cyan" "c"[0 1 1]"#00FFFF"

Sample of the color cyan

"magenta""m"[1 0 1]"#FF00FF"

Sample of the color magenta

"yellow""y"[1 1 0]"#FFFF00"

Sample of the color yellow

"black""k"[0 0 0]"#000000"

Sample of the color black

"white""w"[1 1 1]"#FFFFFF"

Sample of the color white

"none"Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB® uses in many types of plots.

RGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]"#0072BD"

Sample of RGB triplet [0 0.4470 0.7410], which appears as dark blue

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]"#D95319"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], which appears as dark orange

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]"#EDB120"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.9290 0.6940 0.1250], which appears as dark yellow

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]"#7E2F8E"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4940 0.1840 0.5560], which appears as dark purple

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]"#77AC30"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4660 0.6740 0.1880], which appears as medium green

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]"#4DBEEE"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.3010 0.7450 0.9330], which appears as light blue

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]"#A2142F"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.6350 0.0780 0.1840], which appears as dark red

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

Example: '#0000FF'

Control how the Color property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • "auto" — MATLAB controls the value of the Color property by using the SeiesIndex property of the Line object and the ColorOrder property of the axes.

  • "manual" — You set the value of the Color property directly, or indirectly as a function argument when you create the Line object.

If you change the value of the Color property manually, MATLAB changes the value of the ColorMode property to "manual".

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line StyleDescriptionResulting Line
"-"Solid line

Sample of solid line

"--"Dashed line

Sample of dashed line

":"Dotted line

Sample of dotted line

"-."Dash-dotted line

Sample of dash-dotted line, with alternating dashes and dots

"none"No lineNo line

Control how the LineStyle property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • "auto" — MATLAB controls the value of the LineStyle property by using the SeiesIndex property of the Line object and the LineStyleOrder property of the axes.

  • "manual" — You set the value of the LineStyle property directly, or indirectly as a function argument when you create the Line object.

If you change the value of the LineStyle property manually, MATLAB changes the value of the LineStyleMode property to "manual".

Line width, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch. If the line has markers, then the line width also affects the marker edges.

The line width cannot be thinner than the width of a pixel. If you set the line width to a value that is less than the width of a pixel on your system, the line displays as one pixel wide.

Series index, specified as a positive whole number or "none". This property is useful for reassigning the colors, line styles, or markers of Line objects so that they match other objects.

By default, the SeriesIndex property is a number that corresponds to the order in which the Line object was created, starting at 1. MATLAB uses the number to calculate indices for automatically assigning color, line style, or markers when you call plotting functions. The indices refer to the rows of the arrays stored in the ColorOrder and LineStyleOrder properties of the axes. Any objects in the axes that have the same SeriesIndex number also have the same color (and line style and markers, if applicable).

A SeriesIndex value of "none" corresponds to a solid line with a neutral color that does not participate in the indexing scheme.

How Manually Setting Colors, Line Styles, or Markers Overrides SeriesIndex Behavior

To manually control the color, line style, and markers, set the Color, LineStyle, and Marker properties of the Line object.

When you manually set these properties of an object, MATLAB disables automatic color, line style, and marker selection for that object and allows your selection to persist, regardless of the value of the SeriesIndex property. The ColorMode, LineStyleMode, and MarkerMode properties indicate whether the colors, line styles, and markers have been set manually (by you) or automatically. For each of these mode properties, a value of "manual" indicates manual selection, and a value of "auto" indicates automatic selection.

To enable automatic selection again, set the ColorMode, LineStyleMode, MarkerMode, or all three properties to "auto", and set the SeriesIndex property to a positive whole number.

In some cases, MATLAB sets the SeriesIndex property to 0, which also disables automatic selection.

Style of line corners, specified as "round", "miter", or "chamfer". This table illustrates the appearance of the different values.

"round""miter""chamfer"

A "round" corner

A "miter" corner

A "chamfer" corner

The appearance of the "round" option might look different if the Renderer property of the figure is set to "opengl" instead of "painters".

Sharp vertical and horizontal lines, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

ValueDescriptionAppearance
'on'

Sharpen vertical and horizontal lines to eliminate an uneven appearance.

Four vertical lines that are sharp

'off'

Do not sharpen vertical or horizontal lines. The lines might appear uneven in thickness or color.

Four vertical lines that are uneven in thickness. Some of the lines are blurry.

If the associated figure has a GraphicsSmoothing property set to 'on' and a Renderer property set to 'opengl', then the figure applies a smoothing technique to plots. In some cases, this smoothing technique can cause vertical and horizontal lines to appear uneven in thickness or color. Use the AlignVertexCenters property to eliminate the uneven appearance.

Note

You must have a graphics card that supports this feature. To see if the feature is supported, call the rendererinfo function. If it is supported, rendererinfo returns value of 1 for info.Details.SupportsAlignVertexCenters.

Markers

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Marker symbol, specified as one of the values listed in this table. By default, the object does not display markers. Specifying a marker symbol adds markers at each data point or vertex.

MarkerDescriptionResulting Marker
"o"Circle

Sample of circle marker

"+"Plus sign

Sample of plus sign marker

"*"Asterisk

Sample of asterisk marker

"."Point

Sample of point marker

"x"Cross

Sample of cross marker

"_"Horizontal line

Sample of horizontal line marker

"|"Vertical line

Sample of vertical line marker

"square"Square

Sample of square marker

"diamond"Diamond

Sample of diamond marker

"^"Upward-pointing triangle

Sample of upward-pointing triangle marker

"v"Downward-pointing triangle

Sample of downward-pointing triangle marker

">"Right-pointing triangle

Sample of right-pointing triangle marker

"<"Left-pointing triangle

Sample of left-pointing triangle marker

"pentagram"Pentagram

Sample of pentagram marker

"hexagram"Hexagram

Sample of hexagram marker

"none"No markersNot applicable

Control how the Marker property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • "auto" — MATLAB controls the value of the object"s Marker property by using the SeiesIndex property of the Line object and the LineStyleOrder property of the axes.

  • "manual" — You set the value of the Marker property directly, or indirectly as a function argument when you create the Line object.

If you change the value of the Marker property manually, MATLAB changes the value of the MarkerMode property to "manual".

Indices of data points at which to display markers, specified as a vector of positive integers. If you do not specify the indices, then MATLAB displays a marker at every data point.

Note

To see the markers, you must also specify a marker symbol.

Example: plot(x,y,"-o","MarkerIndices",[1 5 10]) displays a circle marker at the first, fifth, and tenth data points.

Example: plot(x,y,"-x","MarkerIndices",1:3:length(y)) displays a cross marker every three data points.

Example: plot(x,y,"Marker","square","MarkerIndices",5) displays one square marker at the fifth data point.

Marker size, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch.

Marker outline color, specified as "auto", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of "auto" uses the same color as the Color property.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

  • An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

  • A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
"red""r"[1 0 0]"#FF0000"

Sample of the color red

"green""g"[0 1 0]"#00FF00"

Sample of the color green

"blue""b"[0 0 1]"#0000FF"

Sample of the color blue

"cyan" "c"[0 1 1]"#00FFFF"

Sample of the color cyan

"magenta""m"[1 0 1]"#FF00FF"

Sample of the color magenta

"yellow""y"[1 1 0]"#FFFF00"

Sample of the color yellow

"black""k"[0 0 0]"#000000"

Sample of the color black

"white""w"[1 1 1]"#FFFFFF"

Sample of the color white

"none"Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]"#0072BD"

Sample of RGB triplet [0 0.4470 0.7410], which appears as dark blue

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]"#D95319"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], which appears as dark orange

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]"#EDB120"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.9290 0.6940 0.1250], which appears as dark yellow

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]"#7E2F8E"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4940 0.1840 0.5560], which appears as dark purple

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]"#77AC30"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4660 0.6740 0.1880], which appears as medium green

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]"#4DBEEE"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.3010 0.7450 0.9330], which appears as light blue

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]"#A2142F"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.6350 0.0780 0.1840], which appears as dark red

Marker fill color, specified as "auto", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The "auto" option uses the same color as the Color property of the parent axes. If you specify "auto" and the axes plot box is invisible, the marker fill color is the color of the figure.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

  • An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

  • A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
"red""r"[1 0 0]"#FF0000"

Sample of the color red

"green""g"[0 1 0]"#00FF00"

Sample of the color green

"blue""b"[0 0 1]"#0000FF"

Sample of the color blue

"cyan" "c"[0 1 1]"#00FFFF"

Sample of the color cyan

"magenta""m"[1 0 1]"#FF00FF"

Sample of the color magenta

"yellow""y"[1 1 0]"#FFFF00"

Sample of the color yellow

"black""k"[0 0 0]"#000000"

Sample of the color black

"white""w"[1 1 1]"#FFFFFF"

Sample of the color white

"none"Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]"#0072BD"

Sample of RGB triplet [0 0.4470 0.7410], which appears as dark blue

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]"#D95319"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], which appears as dark orange

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]"#EDB120"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.9290 0.6940 0.1250], which appears as dark yellow

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]"#7E2F8E"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4940 0.1840 0.5560], which appears as dark purple

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]"#77AC30"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4660 0.6740 0.1880], which appears as medium green

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]"#4DBEEE"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.3010 0.7450 0.9330], which appears as light blue

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]"#A2142F"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.6350 0.0780 0.1840], which appears as dark red

Cartesian Coordinate Data

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x values, specified as a vector.

  • For 2-D line plots, if you do not specify the x values, then MATLAB uses the indices of YData as the x values for the plot. XData and YData must have equal lengths.

  • For 3-D line plots, if you do not specify the x values, then MATLAB uses the indices of ZData as the x values for the plot. XData, YData, and ZData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1:10]

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

Control how the XData property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • 'auto' — MATLAB controls the value of the XData property. The XData value can be:

    • The indices of the values in YData.

    • The values in a table variable. The SourceTable property specifies the table, and the XVariable property specifies the variable. If either the SourceTable or XVariable properties are empty, the YData indices are used.

  • 'manual' — The XData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you plot vectors or matrices of coordinates.

Variable linked to XData, specified as a character vector or string containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the XData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the XData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

Example: 'x'

y values, specified as a vector. For 2-D line plots, XData and YData must have equal lengths. For 3-D line plots, XData, YData, and ZData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1:10]

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

Control how the YData property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • 'auto' — The YData property updates automatically based on the SourceTable and YVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to a plotting function.

  • 'manual' — The YData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you plot vectors or matrices of coordinates.

Variable linked to YData, specified as a character vector or string containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the YData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the YData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

Example: 'y'

z values for the 3-D line plot, specified as a vector. XData, YData, and ZData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1:10]

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

Control how the ZData property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • 'auto' — The ZData property updates automatically based on the SourceTable and ZVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to a plotting function.

  • 'manual' — The ZData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you plot vectors or matrices of coordinates.

Variable linked to ZData, specified as a character vector or string containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the ZData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the ZData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

Example: 'z'

Since R2023a

Include the Line object's data range in the automatic selection of axes limits, specified as "on", "off", logical 1 (true), or 0 (false). The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

By default, the axes limits automatically change to include the data range for each successive line you create in the axes. Setting this property enables you to focus on the range of a subset of lines. To exclude the data range of a line in the automatic selection, set its AffectAutoLimits property to "off".

Both lines have AffectAutoLimits="on"Thin red line has AffectAutoLimits="off"

A thick blue line and a thin red line in the same axes that have different x-axis limits

The same two lines with the x-axis limits clipped to the limits of the thick blue line. Because this plot has shorter horizontal range, the y-axis limits are also adjusted to include only the vertical range of both lines within this shortened window.

Polar Coordinate Data

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Angle values, specified as a vector. ThetaData and RData must be vectors of equal length.

This property applies only to lines in polar axes.

Control how the ThetaData property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • 'auto' — MATLAB controls the value of the ThetaData property. The value can be:

    • The indices of the values in RData.

    • The values in a table variable. The SourceTable property specifies the table, and the ThetaVariable property specifies the variable. If either the SourceTable or ThetaVariable properties are empty, the RData indices are used.

  • 'manual' — The ThetaData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to a plotting function such as polarplot.

This property applies only to lines in polar axes.

Variable linked to ThetaData, specified as a character vector containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the RData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the ThetaData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

This property applies only to lines in polar axes.

Radius values, specified as a vector. ThetaData and RData must be vectors of equal length.

This property applies only to lines in polar axes.

Control how the RData property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • 'auto' — The RData property updates automatically based on the SourceTable and RVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to a plotting function such as polarplot.

  • 'manual' — The RData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to a plotting function such as polarplot.

    This property applies only to lines in polar axes.

Variable linked to RData, specified as a character vector containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the RData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the RData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

This property applies only to lines in polar axes.

Geographic Coordinate Data

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Latitude values, specified as a vector. LatitudeData and LongitudeData must be vectors of equal length.

This property applies only to lines in geographic axes.

Control how the LatitudeData property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • 'auto' — The LatitudeData property updates automatically based on the SourceTable and LatitudeVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to a plotting function.

  • 'manual' — The LatitudeData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to a plotting function.

This property applies only to geographic axes.

Variable linked to LatitudeData, specified as a character vector containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate LatitudeData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the LatitudeData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

This property applies only to lines in geographic axes.

Longitude values, specified as a vector. LongitudeData and LatitudeData must be vectors of equal length.

This property applies only to lines in geographic axes.

Control how the LongitudeData property is set, specified as one of these values:

  • 'auto' — The LongitudeData property updates automatically based on the SourceTable and LongitudeVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to a plotting function.

  • 'manual' — The LongitudeData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to a plotting function.

This property applies only to geographic axes.

Variable linked to LongitudeData, specified as a character vector containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate LongitudeData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the LongitudeData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

This property applies only to lines in geographic axes.

Table Data (Since R2022a)

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Source table containing the data to plot. Specify this property as a table or a timetable.

Table variable containing the x-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the following table. The variable you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. When you set this property, MATLAB updates the XData property.

This table lists the different indexing schemes you can use to specify the table variable.

Indexing SchemeExamples

Variable name:

  • A string scalar or character vector.

  • A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.

  • "A" or 'A' — A variable named A

  • "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit

Variable index:

  • An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table.

  • A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.

  • 3 — The third variable from the table

  • [false false true] — The third variable

Variable type:

  • A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.

  • vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

Table variable containing the y-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the following table. The variable you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. When you set this property, MATLAB updates the YData property.

This table lists the different indexing schemes you can use to specify the table variable.

Indexing SchemeExamples

Variable name:

  • A string scalar or character vector.

  • A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.

  • "A" or 'A' — A variable named A

  • "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit

Variable index:

  • An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table.

  • A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.

  • 3 — The third variable from the table

  • [false false true] — The third variable

Variable type:

  • A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.

  • vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

Table variable containing the z-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the following table. The variable you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. When you set this property, MATLAB updates the ZData property.

This table lists the different indexing schemes you can use to specify the table variable.

Indexing SchemeExamples

Variable name:

  • A string scalar or character vector.

  • A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.

  • "A" or 'A' — A variable named A

  • "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit

Variable index:

  • An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table.

  • A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.

  • 3 — The third variable from the table

  • [false false true] — The third variable

Variable type:

  • A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.

  • vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

Table variable containing the radius values for polar plots, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the following table. The variable you specify can contain any type of numeric values. When you set this property, MATLAB updates the RData property. This property applies only to polar axes.

Here is a list of the different indexing schemes you can use to specify the table variable.

Indexing SchemeExamples

Variable name:

  • A string scalar or character vector.

  • A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.

  • "A" or 'A' — A variable named A

  • "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit

Variable index:

  • An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table.

  • A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.

  • 3 — The third variable from the table

  • [false false true] — The third variable

Variable type:

  • A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.

  • vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

Table variable containing the angle values for polar plots, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the following table. The variable you specify can contain any type of numeric values. When you set this property, MATLAB updates the ThetaData property. This property applies only to polar axes.

Here is a list of the different indexing schemes you can use to specify the table variable.

Indexing SchemeExamples

Variable name:

  • A string scalar or character vector.

  • A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.

  • "A" or 'A' — A variable named A

  • "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit

Variable index:

  • An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table.

  • A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.

  • 3 — The third variable from the table

  • [false false true] — The third variable

Variable type:

  • A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.

  • vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

Table variable containing the latitude values for geographic plots, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the following table. When you set this property, MATLAB updates the LatitudeData property. This property applies only to geographic axes.

Here is a list of the different indexing schemes you can use to specify the table variable.

Indexing SchemeExamples

Variable name:

  • A string scalar or character vector.

  • A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.

  • "A" or 'A' — A variable named A

  • "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit

Variable index:

  • An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table.

  • A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.

  • 3 — The third variable from the table

  • [false false true] — The third variable

Variable type:

  • A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.

  • vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

Table variable containing the longitude values for geographic plots, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the following table. When you set this property, MATLAB updates the LongitudeData property. This property applies only to geographic axes.

Here is a list of the different indexing schemes you can use to specify the table variable.

Indexing SchemeExamples

Variable name:

  • A string scalar or character vector.

  • A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.

  • "A" or 'A' — A variable named A

  • "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit

Variable index:

  • An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table.

  • A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.

  • 3 — The third variable from the table

  • [false false true] — The third variable

Variable type:

  • A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.

  • vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

Legend

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Legend label, specified as a character vector or string scalar. The legend does not display until you call the legend command. If you do not specify the text, then legend sets the label using the form 'dataN'.

Include object in the legend, specified as an Annotation object. Set the underlying IconDisplayStyle property of the Annotation object to one of these values:

  • "on" — Include the object in the legend (default).

  • "off" — Do not include the object in the legend.

For example, to exclude the Line object called obj from the legend, set the IconDisplayStyle property to "off".

obj.Annotation.LegendInformation.IconDisplayStyle = "off";

Alternatively, you can control the items in a legend using the legend function. Specify the first input argument as a vector of the graphics objects to include. If you do not specify an existing graphics object in the first input argument, then it does not appear in the legend. However, graphics objects added to the axes after the legend is created do appear in the legend. Consider creating the legend after creating all the plots to avoid extra items.

Interactivity

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State of visibility, specified as "on" or "off", or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of "on" is equivalent to true, and "off" is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

  • "on" — Display the object.

  • "off" — Hide the object without deleting it. You still can access the properties of an invisible object.

Data tip content, specified as a DataTipTemplate object. You can control the content that appears in a data tip by modifying the properties of the underlying DataTipTemplate object. For a list of properties, see DataTipTemplate Properties.

For an example of modifying data tips, see Create Custom Data Tips.

Note

The DataTipTemplate object is not returned by findobj or findall, and it is not copied by copyobj.

Context menu, specified as a ContextMenu object. Use this property to display a context menu when you right-click the object. Create the context menu using the uicontextmenu function.

Note

If the PickableParts property is set to 'none' or if the HitTest property is set to 'off', then the context menu does not appear.

Selection state, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

  • 'on' — Selected. If you click the object when in plot edit mode, then MATLAB sets its Selected property to 'on'. If the SelectionHighlight property also is set to 'on', then MATLAB displays selection handles around the object.

  • 'off' — Not selected.

Display of selection handles when selected, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

  • 'on' — Display selection handles when the Selected property is set to 'on'.

  • 'off' — Never display selection handles, even when the Selected property is set to 'on'.

Clipping of the object to the axes limits, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

  • A value of 'on' clips parts of the object that are outside the axes limits.

  • A value of 'off' displays the entire object, even if parts of it appear outside the axes limits. Parts of the object might appear outside the axes limits if you create a plot, set hold on, freeze the axis scaling, and then create the object so that it is larger than the original plot.

The Clipping property of the axes that contains the object must be set to 'on'. Otherwise, this property has no effect. For more information about the clipping behavior, see the Clipping property of the axes.

Callbacks

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Mouse-click callback, specified as one of these values:

  • Function handle

  • Cell array containing a function handle and additional arguments

  • Character vector that is a valid MATLAB command or function, which is evaluated in the base workspace (not recommended)

Use this property to execute code when you click the object. If you specify this property using a function handle, then MATLAB passes two arguments to the callback function when executing the callback:

  • Clicked object — Access properties of the clicked object from within the callback function.

  • Event data — Empty argument. Replace it with the tilde character (~) in the function definition to indicate that this argument is not used.

For more information on how to use function handles to define callback functions, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

Note

If the PickableParts property is set to 'none' or if the HitTest property is set to 'off', then this callback does not execute.

Object creation function, specified as one of these values:

  • Function handle.

  • Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

  • Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB creates the object. MATLAB initializes all property values before executing the CreateFcn callback. If you do not specify the CreateFcn property, then MATLAB executes a default creation function.

Setting the CreateFcn property on an existing component has no effect.

If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the object that is being created using the first argument of the callback function. Otherwise, use the gcbo function to access the object.

Object deletion function, specified as one of these values:

  • Function handle.

  • Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

  • Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB deletes the object. MATLAB executes the DeleteFcn callback before destroying the properties of the object. If you do not specify the DeleteFcn property, then MATLAB executes a default deletion function.

If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the object that is being deleted using the first argument of the callback function. Otherwise, use the gcbo function to access the object.

Callback Execution Control

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Callback interruption, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

This property determines if a running callback can be interrupted. There are two callback states to consider:

  • The running callback is the currently executing callback.

  • The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.

MATLAB determines callback interruption behavior whenever it executes a command that processes the callback queue. These commands include drawnow, figure, uifigure, getframe, waitfor, and pause.

If the running callback does not contain one of these commands, then no interruption occurs. MATLAB first finishes executing the running callback, and later executes the interrupting callback.

If the running callback does contain one of these commands, then the Interruptible property of the object that owns the running callback determines if the interruption occurs:

  • If the value of Interruptible is 'off', then no interruption occurs. Instead, the BusyAction property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines if the interrupting callback is discarded or added to the callback queue.

  • If the value of Interruptible is 'on', then the interruption occurs. The next time MATLAB processes the callback queue, it stops the execution of the running callback and executes the interrupting callback. After the interrupting callback completes, MATLAB then resumes executing the running callback.

Note

Callback interruption and execution behave differently in these situations:

  • If the interrupting callback is a DeleteFcn, CloseRequestFcn, or SizeChangedFcn callback, then the interruption occurs regardless of the Interruptible property value.

  • If the running callback is currently executing the waitfor function, then the interruption occurs regardless of the Interruptible property value.

  • If the interrupting callback is owned by a Timer object, then the callback executes according to schedule regardless of the Interruptible property value.

Note

When an interruption occurs, MATLAB does not save the state of properties or the display. For example, the object returned by the gca or gcf command might change when another callback executes.

Callback queuing, specified as 'queue' or 'cancel'. The BusyAction property determines how MATLAB handles the execution of interrupting callbacks. There are two callback states to consider:

  • The running callback is the currently executing callback.

  • The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.

The BusyAction property determines callback queuing behavior only when both of these conditions are met:

  • The running callback contains a command that processes the callback queue, such as drawnow, figure, uifigure, getframe, waitfor, or pause.

  • The value of the Interruptible property of the object that owns the running callback is 'off'.

Under these conditions, the BusyAction property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines how MATLAB handles the interrupting callback. These are possible values of the BusyAction property:

  • 'queue' — Puts the interrupting callback in a queue to be processed after the running callback finishes execution.

  • 'cancel' — Does not execute the interrupting callback.

Ability to capture mouse clicks, specified as one of these values:

  • 'visible' — Capture mouse clicks when visible. The Visible property must be set to 'on' and you must click a part of the Line object that has a defined color. You cannot click a part that has an associated color property set to 'none'. If the plot contains markers, then the entire marker is clickable if either the edge or the fill has a defined color. The HitTest property determines if the Line object responds to the click or if an ancestor does.

  • 'all' — Capture mouse clicks regardless of visibility. The Visible property can be set to 'on' or 'off' and you can click a part of the Line object that has no color. The HitTest property determines if the Line object responds to the click or if an ancestor does.

  • 'none' — Cannot capture mouse clicks. Clicking the Line object passes the click through it to the object below it in the current view of the figure window. The HitTest property has no effect.

Response to captured mouse clicks, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

  • 'on' — Trigger the ButtonDownFcn callback of the Line object. If you have defined the ContextMenu property, then invoke the context menu.

  • 'off' — Trigger the callbacks for the nearest ancestor of the Line object that has one of these:

    • HitTest property set to 'on'

    • PickableParts property set to a value that enables the ancestor to capture mouse clicks

Note

The PickableParts property determines if the Line object can capture mouse clicks. If it cannot, then the HitTest property has no effect.

This property is read-only.

Deletion status, returned as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted property to 'on' when the DeleteFcn callback begins execution. The BeingDeleted property remains set to 'on' until the component object no longer exists.

Check the value of the BeingDeleted property to verify that the object is not about to be deleted before querying or modifying it.

Parent/Child

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Parent, specified as an Axes, PolarAxes, Group, or Transform object.

Children, returned as an empty GraphicsPlaceholder array or a DataTip object array. Use this property to view a list of data tips that are plotted on the chart.

You cannot add or remove children using the Children property. To add a child to this list, set the Parent property of the DataTip object to the chart object.

Visibility of the object handle in the Children property of the parent, specified as one of these values:

  • "on" — Object handle is always visible.

  • "off" — Object handle is invisible at all times. This option is useful for preventing unintended changes by another function. Set the HandleVisibility to "off" to temporarily hide the handle during the execution of that function.

  • "callback" — Object handle is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command line, but permits callback functions to access it.

If the object is not listed in the Children property of the parent, then functions that obtain object handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties cannot return it. Examples of such functions include the get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close functions.

Hidden object handles are still valid. Set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to "on" to list all object handles regardless of their HandleVisibility property setting.

Identifiers

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This property is read-only.

Type of graphics object, returned as 'line'. Use this property to find all objects of a given type within a plotting hierarchy, for example, searching for the type using findobj.

Object identifier, specified as a character vector or string scalar. You can specify a unique Tag value to serve as an identifier for an object. When you need access to the object elsewhere in your code, you can use the findobj function to search for the object based on the Tag value.

User data, specified as any MATLAB array. For example, you can specify a scalar, vector, matrix, cell array, character array, table, or structure. Use this property to store arbitrary data on an object.

If you are working in App Designer, create public or private properties in the app to share data instead of using the UserData property. For more information, see Share Data Within App Designer Apps.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

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