Graphics Object Properties

Root Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

children

A vector of figure handles, which are children of the root.

currentfigure

The handle of the current figure.

handle

The handle of the root, which is 0.

0

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

parent

The parent handle; null for the root object.

0

screendepth

The color depth of the screen. Read-only.

Integer

screenpixelsperinch

The number of pixels per inch of the screen. Read-only.

Double

screensize

The size (resolution) of the screen. Read-only.

[1 1 width height]

showhiddenhandles

If set to 'on' then all objects in the hierarchy are listed in their parents' 'children' value regardless of their 'handlevisibility' value.

'off' | 'on'

tag

A tag attached to the root object.

String

type

The type of the root object.

'root'

units

Units of measurement.

'pixels' | 'normalized'

Figure Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

bottomlabel

Handle of the label that is placed on the bottom area of the figure.

Note: Use the set command to set the contents of the label.

string | cell

children

A vector of axes handles, which are the children of the figure.

color

The background color of the figure.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

createfcn

Function triggered when the figure object is created.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

currentaxes

Handle of the current axes of the figure.

currentpoint

The position of the mouse in pixels. The value is updated on mouse click before the 'windowbuttondownfcn' and 'windowbuttonupfcn' are called. 'Currentpoint' is also updated on mouse move if the 'windowbuttonmotionfcn' is set.

[x, y]

deletefcn

Function triggered when the figure object is deleted.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

filename

The '.fig' file that was used to create the figure.

String

handle

Handle of the figure object.

Integer.

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

interruptible

Determines if a callback associated with this figure is interruptible by the user or not.

'off' | 'on'

keypressfcn

Function triggered when there is a key press event on the figure object. The function is triggered only if the figure has focus.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

keyreleasefcn

Function triggered when there is a key release event on the figure object. The function is triggered only if the figure has focus.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

leftlabel

Handle of the label that is placed on the left area of the figure.

Note: Use the set command to set the contents of the label.

string | cell

name

Name of the figure.

String

parent

Parent handle, which is always 0 (root).

0

position

Location and size of the figure.

The location is specified by the upper-left point, and the size is specified by the width and height.

Note: This property is only valid for floating figure. If you change this property for a docked figure, there will be no effect, but after undocking the figure, the size/position will be updated accordingly.

[left top width height]

resize

Enable or disable the resizing of the figure window when the figure is undocked. If resize is set to 'off', the figure can still be resized by setting the 'position' property.

'on' | 'off'

rightlabel

Handle of the label that is placed on the right area of the figure.

Note: Use the set command to set the contents of the label.

string | cell

sizechangedfcn

Function triggered when the figure window is resized.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

toplabel

Handle of the label that is placed on the top area of the figure.

Note: Use the set command to set the contents of the label.

string | cell

tag

A tag attached to the figure object.

String

type

Type of figure object.

'figure'

units

Units of measurement.

'pixels' | 'normalized'

uicontextmenu

Handle of the uicontextmenu object associated with this figure, if it exists.

visible

Visibility of the figure.

'on' | 'off'

windowicon

Path to an image file that is shown at the top-left corner of the figure window. Supported file types are: .ico, .jpg, .jpeg, .png.

Note: The icon will be visible only if the figure is undocked.

String

windowbuttondownfcn

Function triggered when there is a mouse button press event on the figure object.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

windowbuttonmotionfcn

Function triggered when the mouse is moving inside the figure area.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

windowbuttonupfcn

Function triggered when there is a mouse button release event on the figure object.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

windowkeypressfcn

Function triggered when there is a key press event on the figure object. The function is triggered if the figure or its children have focus.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

windowkeyreleasefcn

Function triggered when there is a key release event on the figure object. The function is triggered if the figure or its children have focus.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

windowscrollwheelfcn

Function triggered when there is a mouse wheel event on the figure object.

Function handle, string, or cell specifying function name and arguments.

windowstyle

Display style of the figure window.

Note: The 'modal' option will undock the figure window and bring it to the front. Interaction with other windows of the application will be blocked until the figure is closed.

'docked' | 'undocked' | 'modal'

Axes Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

bargap (2D bar plot only)

Gap between bars.

Integer

barlabels (2D bar chart plot only)

Show the value over each bar.

'off' | 'on'

barlabelsfontangle (2D bar chart plot only)

Font angle for the bar labels.

'regular' | 'italic'

barlabelsfontname (2D bar chart plot only)

Font name for the bar labels.

Any available font from the system.

barlabelsfontsize (2D bar chart plot only)

Font size for the bar labels.

Integer

barlabelsfontweight (2D bar chart plot only)

Font weight for the bar labels.

'normal' | 'bold'

barorientation (2D bar chart plot only)

Orientation of the bars.

'horizontal' | 'vertical'

children

A vector of handles, which are the children of the axes.

color

Background color of the axes.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

colorbar

Handle of the colorbar object.

Double

colorbarscale

Scale of the colorbar values.

'linear' | 'log' | 'db10' | 'db20'

colorlevels

The colorbar values.

Note: The set command for this property accepts either an integer or a real vector. Use a real vector to set custom values to the colorbar. Use an integer to define the number of colors in the colorbar. In this case, the range and values of the colorbar are automatically calculated.

Integer or real vector.

contourtype

Type of contour.

'blended' | 'discrete' | 'none'

fontangle

Font angle of the axes.

'regular' | 'italic'

fontname

Axes font name.

Any available font from the system.

fontsize

Font size of the axes.

Integer

fontweight

Font weight of the axes.

'normal' | 'bold'

framecolor

Frame color.

1*3 matrix of RGB.

gridcolor

Grid line color.

1*3 matrix of RGB.

handle

Handle of the axes object.

Double

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

mouseclickcallback

Callback function triggered by a mouse click on a 2D plot.

Function handle

parent

Handle of the parent figure.

plottiptotail (polar plot only)

Enable creation of a tip-to-tail curve.

'off' | 'on'

polarmethod (polar plot only)

The polar method of the plot.

'phasevsmag' | 'vector' | 'radar'

position

Location and size of the axes in the figure.

Location is specified by the upper-left point; size is specified by the width and height

[left top width height]

title

Handle of the title, which is a text object.

tag

A tag attached to the axes object.

String

type

Type of axes object.

'axes'

units

Units of measurement.

'normalized' | 'pixels'

visible

Visibility of the axes.

'on' | 'off'

xcategories (bar chart plots only)

Labels for the x category axis of a bar plot.

Cell

xcolor

Color of the x axis.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

xdb10reference (2D plots only)

Reference value for the x axis dB10 scale. Data values are scaled using the formula: value = 10*log10(original_value/reference)

Scalar

xdb20reference (2D plots only)

Reference value for the x axis dB20 scale. Data values are scaled using the formula: value = 20*log10(original_value/reference)

Scalar

xfontangle

Font angle of the x axis tick labels.

'regular' | 'italic'

xfontname

Font name of the x axis tick labels.

Any available font from the system.

xfontsize

Font size of the x axis tick labels.

Integer

xfontweight

Font weight of the x axis tick labels.

'normal' | 'bold'

xgrid

Status of the x axis grid lines.

'off' | 'on'

xlabel

Handle of the label of the x axis, which is a text object.

xlim

X axis limits.

2-element vector

xaxislocation

X axis location.

'bottom' | 'top'

xminorgrid

Status of the x axis minor grid lines.

'off' | 'on'

xminortick

Number of ticks on the x minor axis.

Integer

xnumericformat

Displays the format of the x axis values.

'auto' | 'fixed' | 'scientific'

xnumericprecision

Number of digits following the decimal point of the x axis values.

Integer

xscale

Scale of the x axis.

'linear' | 'log' | 'db10' | 'db20'

xtick

Number of ticks on the x axis or vector of tick values to display on the x axis. Custom tick values can be set only on the linear axis of 2D plots.

Note: If the axis scale is logarithmic, decibels, or dB10, this property refers to ticks per decade. The accepted values are:

• 0, 1, 2, 5, 9 or 18 for logarithmic.
• 0, 1, 2, 4, 10 or 20 for decibels.
• 0, 1, 2, 4 or 10 for dB10.

Integer | Vector

xticklabel

Labels of the x axis ticks.

Note: The labels are set on the custom ticks that are specified by the xtick property.

Cell of strings

xtickmethod

The method for calculating the number of ticks on the x axis.

'increment' | 'ticks'

xweighting (2D plots only)

Weighting method for the dB10 and dB20 x axis scale.

Note: For more information about the weighting methods refer to the dba, dbb, dbc and dbu commands.

'none' | 'a' | 'b' | 'c' | 'u'

ycategories (3D bar chart plots only)

Labels for the y category axis of a 3D bar chart plot.

Cell

ycolor

Color of the y axis.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

ydb10reference (2D plots only)

Reference value for the y axis dB10 scale. Data values are scaled using the formula: value = 10*log10(original_value/reference)

Scalar

ydb20reference (2D plots only)

Reference value for the y axis dB20 scale. Data values are scaled using the formula: value = 20*log10(original_value/reference)

Scalar

yfontangle

Font angle of the y axis tick labels.

'regular' | 'italic'

yfontname

Font name of the y axis tick labels.

Any available font from the system.

yfontsize

Font size of the y axis tick labels.

Integer

yfontweight

Font weight of the y axis tick labels.

'normal' | 'bold'

ygrid

Status of the y axis grid lines.

'off' | 'on'

ylabel

Handle of the label of y axis, which is a text object.

ylim

Y axis limits.

2-element vector

yaxislocation

Y axis location.

'left' | 'right'

yminorgrid

Status of the y axis minor grid lines.

'off' | 'on'

yminortick

Number of ticks on the y minor axis.

Integer

ynumericformat

Display format of the y axis values.

'auto' | 'fixed' | 'scientific'

ynumericprecision

Number of digits following the decimal point of the y axis values.

Integer

yscale

Scale of the y axis.

'linear' | 'log' | 'db10' | 'db20'

ytick

Number of ticks on the y axis or vector of tick values to display on the y axis. Custom tick values can be set only on the linear axis of 2D plots.

Note: If the axis scale is logarithmic, decibels, or dB10, this property refers to ticks per decade and the accepted values are:

• 0, 1, 2, 5, 9 or 18 for logarithmic.
• 0, 1, 2, 4, 10 or 20 for decibels.
• 0, 1, 2, 4 or 10 for dB10.

Integer | Vector

yticklabel

Labels of the y axis ticks.

Note: The labels are set on the custom ticks that are specified by the ytick property.

Cell of strings

ytickmethod

The method for calculating the number of ticks for the y axis.

'increment' | 'ticks'

yweighting (2D plots only)

Weighting method for the dB10 and dB20 y axis scale.

Note: For more information about the weighting methods refer to the dba, dbb, dbc and dbu commands.

'none' | 'a' | 'b' | 'c' | 'u'

zcolor

Color of the z axis.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

zerolinecolor

Zero line color.

1*3 matrix of RGB.

zfontangle

Font angle of the z axis tick labels.

'regular' | 'italic'

zfontname

Font name of the z axis tick labels.

Any available font from the system.

zfontsize

Font size of the z axis tick labels.

Integer

zfontweight

Font weight of the z axis tick labels.

'normal' | 'bold'

zgrid

Status of the z axis grid lines.

'off' | 'on'

zlabel

Handle of the label of z axis, which is a text object.

zlim

Z axis limits.

2-element vector

zminorgrid

Status of the z axis minor grid lines.

'off' | 'on'

zminortick

Number of ticks on the z minor axis.

Integer

znumericformat

Display format of the z axis values.

'auto' | 'fixed' | 'scientific'

znumericprecision

Number of digits following the decimal point of the z axis values.

Integer

zscale

Scale of the z axis.

'linear' | 'log' | 'db10' | 'db20'

ztick

Number of tics on the z axis.

Note: If the axis scale is logarithmic, decibels, or dB10, this property refers to tics per decade and the accepted values are:

• 0, 1, 2, 5, 9 or 18 for logarithmic.
• 0, 1, 2, 4, 10 or 20 for decibels.
• 0, 1, 2, 4 or 10 for dB10.

Integer

ztickmethod

The method for calculating the number of ticks for the z axis.

'increment' | 'ticks'

Y-axis Properties

Line Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

children

Children of the line object, currently an empty matrix.

color

Line color.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

dataxoffset

Shifts the data along the x axis.

Double

datayoffset

Shifts the data along the y axis.

Double

datazoffset

Shifts the data along the z axis.

Double

dataxscale

Scales the data in the x axis.

Double

datayscale

Scales the data in the y axis.

Double

datazscale

Scales the data in the z axis.

Double

displayname

The line's name.

String

handle

Handle of the line object.

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

linestyle

The line style.

'-' | '--' | '-.' | ':' | '-:' | 'none'

linewidth

Width of the line.

Integer

marker

Line marker.

's' | 'square' | '^' | 'v' | 'x' | 'o' | 'd' | 'diamond' | '+' | '*' | '.' | 'none'

markerevery

Frequency of line markers.

Integer

markerfacecolor

Color of the line marker.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

markersize

Size of the marker.

Integer

parent

Handle of the parent axes.

0

tag

A tag attached to the line object.

String

tiptotail (polar plot only)

Enables participation of the line in the tip-to-tail curve.

'on' | 'off'

type

The type of line object.

'line'

units

Units of measurement.

'pixels' | 'normalized'

visible

Visibility of the line.

'on' | 'off'

xdata

Data values associated with the x axis.

vector

yaxis

Handle of the vertical axis this object is plotted on.

Double

ydata

Data values associated with the y axis.

vector

zdata

Data values associated with the z axis (3D lines only).

vector

Surface Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

children

Children of the surface object, currently an empty matrix.

color

Surface color.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

displayname

The surface's name.

String

handle

Handle of the surface object.

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

linewidth (waterfall plot only)

Width of the waterfall lines.

Integer

meshlines

Visibility of the surface mesh lines.

'on' | 'off'

parent

Handle of the parent axes.

0

tag

A tag attached to the surface object.

String

type

Surface object type.

'surface'

units

Units of measurement.

'pixels' | 'normalized'

visible

Visibility of the surface.

'on' | 'off'

xdata

Data values associated with the x axis.

vector | matrix

ydata

Data values associated with the y axis.

vector | matrix

zdata

Data values associated with the z axis.

matrix

Text Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

attached

Enables the attachement of the text box to a point. Supported in 2D plots only.

'on' | 'off'

backgroundcolor

The background color of the text box.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

borderwidth

The width of the text's border line.

Integer

children

Children of the text object, currently an empty matrix.

color

The text color.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

fontangle

The font angle of the text.

'regular' | 'italic'

fontname

The text's font name.

Any available fonts from the system.

fontsize

The text's font size.

Integer

fontweight

The font weight of the text.

'normal' | 'bold'

handle

The handle of the text object.

Double

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

horizontalalignment

The horizontal alignment of the text box relative to the given x,y coordinate. Supported in 2D plots only.

'center' | 'left' | 'right'

interpreter

The interpreter that will be used to process the text. Supported in 2D plots only.

Note: The 'tex' interpreter supports a subset of the TeX markup language and is currently available in 2D plots for title, axis labels and text objects. Mathematical expressions should be placed inside '$'. Examples may be found in the documation of the text command.

'none' | 'tex'

offset

The distance between the given x,y coordinate and the text box. Supported in 2D plots only.

Double

parent

The handle of the parent object.

Double

string

The content of the text object.

tag

A tag attached to the text object.

String

type

The text object type.

'text'

units

The units of measurement.

'pixels' | 'normalized'

verticalalignment

The vertical alignment of the text box relative to the given x,y coordinate. Supported in 2D plots only.

'middle' | 'top' | 'bottom'

visible

Visibility of the text object.

'on' | 'off'

Hggroup Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

areagroup (area plot only)

A vector of handles, which point to area groups.

autoscale (quiver plot only)

Enables the scaling of the quiver plot vectors.

'on' | 'off'

autoscalefactor (quiver plot only)

The scaling factor of the quiver plot vectors. Default value is 0.9.

Double

basevalue (area plot only)

Base value of the shading.

Double

bargroup (bar chart plot only)

A vector of handles, which point to bar groups.

barlayout (bar chart plot only)

The bar layout style.

'grouped' | 'stacked'

barstyle (bar chart plot only)

The bar style.

Integer in the range [0,4]

barwidth (bar chart plot only)

The width of the bars.

Integer

cdata (2d scatter plot only)

The color of each marker of a scatter plot.

M*3 matrix of RGB

children

The children of the hggroup object.

color (quiver plot only)

Color of the quiver plot vectors.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

dataxoffset

Shifts the data along the x axis.

Double

datayoffset

Shifts the data along the y axis.

Double

datazoffset

Shifts the data along the z axis.

Double

dataxscale

Scales the data in the x axis.

Double

datayscale

Scales the data in the y axis.

Double

datazscale

Scales the data in the z axis.

Double

displayname

The group's named.

String

facecolor

The object color.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

handle

The handle of the hggroup object.

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

imgrid (imagesc plot only)

Visibility of the image grid.

'off' | 'on'

linestyle (quiver plot only)

The vector line style.

'-' | '--' | '-.' | ':' | '-:' | 'none'

linewidth (quiver plot only)

The vector line width.

Integer

marker (scatter and quiver plot only)

marker style

's' | 'square' | '^' | 'v' | 'x' | 'o' | 'd' | 'diamond' | '+' | '*' | '.' | 'none'

markerfacealpha (scatter plot only)

The marker color opacity.

Double

markerfacecolor (scatter and quiver plot only)

The marker color.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

markersize (scatter and quiver plot only)

Size of the marker.

Integer

maxheadsize (quiver plot only)

The scaling factor of the quiver plot arrow head. Default value is 0.3.

Double

parent

The handle of the parent axes.

0

showarrowhead (quiver plot only)

Sets the arrow head visible.

'on' | 'off'

tag

A tag attached to the hggroup object.

String

type

The type of the hggroup object.

'hggroup'

udata (quiver plot only)

Data values of the vector u component.

vector | matrix

units

The units of measurement, currently not used.

'pixels' | 'normalized'

vdata (quiver plot only)

Data values of the vector v component.

vector | matrix

visible

Visibility of the hggroup object.

'on' | 'off'

xdata

Data values associated with the x axis.

vector | matrix

yaxis(all except bar plot)

Handle of the vertical axis this object is plotted on.

Double

ydata

Data values associated with the y axis.

vector | matrix

zdata

Data values associated with the z axis (3D bar or scatter only).

vector | matrix

Patch Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

cdata (3d patch plot only)

A scalar value per vertex or face, or an 1xNx3(rgb) matrix defining the color of each face.

matrix

children

The children of the patch object.

color (triplot only)

Color of triplot line.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

dataxoffset

Shifts the data along the x axis.

Double

datayoffset

Shifts the data along the y axis.

Double

datazoffset

Shifts the data along the z axis.

Double

dataxscale

Scales the data in the x axis.

Double

datayscale

Scales the data in the y axis.

Double

datazscale

Scales the data in the z axis.

Double

displayname

The patch's named.

String

edgecolor (trimesh only)

The color of the trimesh edges.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname | 'interp' | 'flat'

facecolor (all except triplot and trimesh)

The color of the patch.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname | 'interp' | 'flat'

handle

The handle of the patch object.

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

linestyle (triplot only)

The triplot line style.

'-' | '--' | '-.' | ':' | '-:' | 'none'

linewidth (triplot only)

The triplot line width.

Integer

marker (triplot only)

Marker style

's' | 'square' | '^' | 'v' | 'x' | 'o' | 'd' | 'diamond' | '+' | '*' | '.' | 'none'

markerfacecolor (triplot only)

The marker color.

1*3 matrix of RGB | colorname

markersize (triplot only)

Size of the marker.

Integer

parent

The handle of the parent axes.

0

tag

A tag attached to the patch object.

String

type

The type of the patch object.

'patch'

units

The units of measurement, currently not used.

'pixels' | 'normalized'

visible

Visibility of the patch object.

'on' | 'off'

xdata

Data values associated with the x axis.

vector | matrix

yaxis(2d patch and triplot plot)

Handle of the vertical axis this object is plotted on.

Double

ydata

Data values associated with the y axis.

vector | matrix

zdata

Data values associated with the z axis (3D patch only).

vector | matrix

Image Properties

Property Name

Description/Values

children

The children of the image object, currently an empty matrix.

filepath

The filepath.

handle

The handle of the image object.

handlevisibility

If set to 'off' then this object is not listed in its parent 'children' value.

'on' | 'off'

parent

The handle of the parent object.

0

position

The location and size of the image in the figure. The location is specified by the upper-left point, and the size is specified by the width and height.

[left top width height]

tag

A tag attached to the image object.

String

type

The image object type.

'image'

units

Units of measurement (not yet used).

'pixels' | 'normalized'

Shape Properties

Colorbar Properties

Legend Properties

Waitbar Properties