Data Distribution Plots

Histograms, pie charts, word clouds, and more

Visualize the distribution of data using plots such as histograms, pie charts, or word clouds. For example, use a histogram to group data into bins and display the number of elements in each bin.

Functions

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Distribution Charts

`histogram`	Histogram plot
`histogram2`	Bivariate histogram plot
`morebins`	Increase number of histogram bins
`fewerbins`	Decrease number of histogram bins
`histcounts`	Histogram bin counts
`histcounts2`	Bivariate histogram bin counts
`boxchart`	Box chart (box plot) (Since R2020a)
`violinplot`	Violin plot (Since R2024b)
`swarmchart`	Swarm scatter chart (Since R2020b)
`swarmchart3`	3-D swarm scatter chart (Since R2020b)

Bubble Charts

`bubblechart`	Bubble chart (Since R2020b)
`bubblechart3`	3-D bubble chart (Since R2020b)
`bubblelim`	Map bubble sizes to data range (Since R2020b)
`bubblesize`	Set minimum and maximum bubble sizes in points (Since R2020b)
`bubblelegend`	Create legend for bubble chart (Since R2020b)

Scatter Plots and Parallel Coordinates

`scatter`	Scatter plot
`scatter3`	3-D scatter plot
`binscatter`	Binned scatter plot
`scatterhistogram`	Create scatter plot with histograms
`spy`	Visualize sparsity pattern of matrix
`plotmatrix`	Scatter plot matrix
`parallelplot`	Create parallel coordinates plot

Part-to-Whole Charts and Heat Maps

`donutchart`	Donut chart (Since R2023b)
`piechart`	Pie chart (Since R2023b)
`bubblecloud`	Create bubble cloud chart (Since R2021a)
`wordcloud`	Create word cloud chart from text data
`heatmap`	Create heatmap chart
`sortx`	Sort elements in heatmap row
`sorty`	Sort elements in heatmap column
`pie`	Legacy pie chart
`pie3`	3-D pie chart

Properties

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Chart Objects

Binscatter Properties	Binscatter appearance and behavior
BoxChart Properties	Control box chart appearance and behavior (Since R2020a)
BubbleChart Properties	Bubble chart appearance and behavior (Since R2020b)
BubbleCloud Properties	Bubble cloud appearance and behavior (Since R2021a)
BubbleLegend Properties	Bubble legend appearance and behavior (Since R2020b)
DonutChart Properties	Donut chart appearance and behavior (Since R2023b)
HeatmapChart Properties	Heatmap chart appearance and behavior
Histogram Properties	Histogram appearance and behavior
Histogram2 Properties	Bivariate histogram appearance and behavior
Scatter Properties	Scatter chart appearance and behavior
ScatterHistogramChart Properties	Control scatter histogram chart appearance and behavior
ParallelCoordinatesPlot Properties	Control parallel coordinates plot appearance and behavior
PieChart Properties	Pie chart appearance and behavior (Since R2023b)
ViolinPlot Properties	Violin plot appearance and behavior (Since R2024b)
WordCloudChart Properties	Control word cloud chart appearance and behavior

Topics

Plots That Support Tables
Create plots by passing tables directly to plotting functions.
Pie Charts and Donut Charts
Create pie charts and donut charts, and configure labels, colors, and slice arrangements. (Since R2023b)
Color Analysis with Bivariate Histogram
This example shows how to adjust the color scale of a bivariate histogram plot to reveal additional details about the bins.
Control Categorical Histogram Display
This example shows how to use histogram to effectively view categorical data.
Create Heatmap from Tabular Data
This example shows how to create a heatmap from a table and how to modify the heatmap appearance.
Create Word Cloud from String Arrays
This example shows how to create a word cloud from plain text by reading it into a string array, preprocessing it, and passing it to the wordcloud function.
Explore Table Data Using Parallel Coordinates Plot
This example shows how to create a parallel coordinates plot from a table and how to modify the appearance of the plot.
Replace Discouraged Instances of hist and histc
histogram, histcounts, and discretize are the recommended histogram creation and computation functions for new code.