legend

Syntax

legend()

legend('on')

legend('off')

legend(str1, str2, ...)

legend(str-cell)

legend(h-vector, str-cell)

legend(..., property, value)

lh = legend(...)

Inputs

on/off

Determines whether legend is set to on or off.

Type: string

Dimension: scalar

str1, str2

Legend text. str1 is the text for the first curve, str2 is the text for the second curve, etc.

Type: string

Dimension: scalar

str-cell

Legend text in a cell array.

Type: cell

h-vector

Handles of the curves which show legends.

Type: vector

property, value

'location'

Specifies the location of the legend.

Valid values for 2D plots are:

• 'north'
• 'south'
• 'east'
• 'west'
• 'northeast'
• 'northwest'
• 'southeast'
• 'southwest'
• 'northoutside'
• 'southoutside'
• 'eastoutside'
• 'westoutside'
• or a real vector, specifying the location of the legend in normalized coordinates.

Valid values for 3D plots are:

• 'northeast'
• 'northwest'
• 'southeast'
• 'southwest'

'bordercolor'

Specifies the border color of the legend using an RGB vector with 3 elements ([R G B]).

'borderwidth'

Specifies the border width of the legend with a scalar.

.

'fontangle'

Specifies the font angle of the legend.

Valid values are:

• 'italic'
• 'regular'

'fontweight'

Specifies the font weight of the legend.

Valid values are:

• 'bold'
• 'normal'

'fontname'

Specifies the font name of the legend.

Valid values are all those available in Compose Preferences, such as:

• 'Arial'
• 'Calibri'
• 'Cambria'
• 'Courier New'
• 'Garamond'
• 'Helvetica'
• 'Times New Roman'
• 'Verdana'
• ...

'fontsize'

Specifies the fontsize of the legend with a scalar.

.

'visible'

Specifies the visibility of the legend.

Valid values are :

• 'on'
• 'off'

Type: string | vector

Outputs

lh

Handle of the legend.

Type: double

Dimension: scalar

Example

Simple legend example.

clf;
plot(rand(1, 10));
legend('on');
legend('legend text');

Figure 1. Legend Example 1

Add legends for selected curves.

clf;
hold on;
h1 = plot(rand(10,1),'--o');
h2 = plot(rand(10,1),'-s');
h3 = plot(rand(10,1),'r^');
legend([h2,h3],{'curve2','curve3'});

Figure 2. Legend Example 2

Set the location of the legend.

clf;
plot(rand(1, 10));
legend('location','westoutside');

Figure 3. Location string example

Set legend location coordinates.

clf;
plot(rand(1, 10));
legend('location',[0.2 0.1]);

Figure 4. Location coordinates example

Example retrieving the legend handle.

clf;
plot(rand(1, 10));
h = legend('location',[0.2 0.1]);
get(h)

ans = struct [
  bordercolor: [Matrix] 1 x 3
  163  163  163
  borderwidth: 1
  children: [Matrix] 1 x 0
  fontangle: regular
  fontname: Arial
  fontsize: 7
  fontweight: normal
  handle: 14.4673228
  location: [Matrix] 1 x 2
  0.20000  0.10000
  parent: 19.6851603
  tag: 
  type: 
  uicontextmenu: 0
  units: pixels
  visible: on
]

Example setting legend properties.

clf;
plot(rand(1, 10));
h = legend('location',[0.2 0.1]);
set(h,'fontangle','italic');
set(h,'fontname','Times New Roman');
set(h,'borderwidth',3);
set(h,'bordercolor',[0 0 150]);

Figure 5. Legend Properties