Axes Properties

Font name, specified as a supported font name or "FixedWidth". To display and print text properly, you must choose a font that your system supports. The default font depends on your operating system and locale.

To use a fixed-width font that looks good in any locale, use "FixedWidth". The fixed-width font relies on the root FixedWidthFontName property. Setting the root FixedWidthFontName property causes an immediate update of the display to use the new font.

Character thickness, specified as 'normal' or 'bold'.

MATLAB^® uses the FontWeight property to select a font from those available on your system. Not all fonts have a bold weight. Therefore, specifying a bold font weight can still result in the normal font weight.

Font size, specified as a scalar numeric value. The font size affects the title, axis labels, and tick labels. It also affects any legends or colorbars associated with the axes. The default font size depends on the specific operating system and locale. By default, the font size is measured in points. To change the units, set the FontUnits property.

MATLAB automatically scales some of the text to a percentage of the axes font size.

Example: ax.FontSize = 12

Selection mode for the font size, specified as one of these values:

Character slant, specified as 'normal' or 'italic'.

Not all fonts have both font styles. Therefore, the italic font might look the same as the normal font.

Scale factor for the label font size, specified as a numeric value greater than 0. The scale factor is applied to the value of the FontSize property to determine the font size for the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis labels.

Example: ax.LabelFontSizeMultiplier = 1.5

Scale factor for the title font size, specified as a numeric value greater than 0. The scale factor is applied to the value of the FontSize property to determine the font size for the title.

Title character thickness, specified as one of these values:

Subtitle character thickness, specified as one of these values:

Font size units, specified as one of these values.

To set both the font size and the font units in a single function call, you first must set the FontUnits property so that the Axes object correctly interprets the specified font size.

Tick values, specified as a vector of increasing values. If you do not want tick marks along the axis, then specify an empty vector []. The tick values are the locations along the axis where the tick marks appear. The tick labels are the labels that you see next to each tick mark. Use the XTickLabels, YTickLabels, and ZTickLabels properties to specify the associated labels.

Example: ax.XTick = [2 4 6 8 10]

Example: ax.YTick = 0:10:100

Alternatively, use the xticks, yticks, and zticks functions to specify the tick values. For an example, see Specify Axis Tick Values and Labels.

Selection mode for the tick values, specified as one of these values:

Example: ax.XTickMode = 'auto'

Tick labels, specified as a cell array of character vectors, string array, or categorical array. If you do not want tick labels to show, then specify an empty cell array {}. If you do not specify enough labels for all the tick values, then the labels repeat.

Tick labels support TeX and LaTeX markup. See the TickLabelInterpreter property for more information.

If you specify this property as a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the categories.

As an alternative to setting this property, you can use the xticklabels, yticklabels, and zticklabels functions. For an example, see Specify Axis Tick Values and Labels.

Example: ax.XTickLabel = {'Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr'}

Selection mode for the tick labels, specified as one of these values:

Example: ax.XTickLabelMode = 'auto'

Tick label interpreter, specified as one of these values:

TeX Markup

By default, MATLAB supports a subset of TeX markup. Use TeX markup to add superscripts and subscripts, modify the text type and color, and include special characters in the labels.

Modifiers remain in effect until the end of the text. Superscripts and subscripts are an exception because they modify only the next character or the characters within the curly braces. When you set the interpreter to "tex", the supported modifiers are as follows.

This table lists the supported special characters for the "tex" interpreter.

LaTeX Markup

To use LaTeX markup, set the TickLabelInterpreter property to 'latex'. Use dollar symbols around the labels, for example, use '$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$' for inline mode or '$$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$$' for display mode.

The displayed text uses the default LaTeX font style. The FontName, FontWeight, and FontAngle properties do not have an effect. To change the font style, use LaTeX markup within the text. The maximum size of the text that you can use with the LaTeX interpreter is 1200 characters. For multiline text, the maximum size of the text reduces by about 10 characters per line.

MATLAB supports most standard LaTeX math mode commands. For more information, see Supported LaTeX Commands. For examples that use TeX and LaTeX, see Greek Letters and Special Characters in Chart Text.

Tick label rotation, specified as a numeric value in degrees. Positive values give counterclockwise rotation. Negative values give clockwise rotation.

Example: ax.XTickLabelRotation = 45

Example: ax.YTickLabelRotation = 90

Alternatively, use the xtickangle, ytickangle, and ztickangle functions.

Selection mode for the tick label rotation, specified as one of these values:

Minor tick marks, 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.

Example: ax.XMinorTick = 'on'

Tick mark direction, specified as one of these values:

Selection mode for the TickDir property, specified as one of these values:

Example: ax.TickDirMode = 'auto'

Tick mark length, specified as a two-element vector of the form [2Dlength 3Dlength]. The first element is the tick mark length in 2-D views and the second element is the tick mark length in 3-D views. Specify the values in units normalized relative to the longest of the visible x-axis, y-axis, or z-axis lines.

Example: ax.TickLength = [0.02 0.035]

Minimum and maximum limits, specified as a two-element vector of the form [min max], where max is greater than min. You can specify the limits as numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. However, the type of values that you specify must match the type of values along the axis.

You can specify both limits, or specify one limit and let MATLAB automatically calculate the other. For an automatically calculated minimum or maximum limit, use -inf or inf, respectively. MATLAB uses the 'tight' limit method to calculate the corresponding limit.

Example: ax.XLim = [0 10]

Example: ax.YLim = [-inf 10]

Example: ax.ZLim = [0 inf]

Alternatively, use the xlim, ylim, and zlim functions to set the limits. For an example, see Specify Axis Limits.

Selection mode for the axis limits, specified as one of these values:

Example: ax.XLimMode = 'auto'

Axis limit selection method, specified as a value from the table. The examples in the table show the approximate appearance for different values of the XLimitMethod property. Your results might differ depending on your data, the size of the axes, and the type of plot you create.

Axis ruler, returned as a ruler object. The ruler controls the appearance and behavior of the x-axis, y-axis, or z-axis. Modify the appearance and behavior of a particular axis by accessing the associated ruler and setting ruler properties. The type of ruler that MATLAB creates for each axis depends on the plotted data. For a list of ruler properties that Axes objects support, see:

For example, access the ruler for the x-axis through the XAxis property. Then, change the Color property of the ruler, and thus the color of the x-axis, to red. Similarly, change the color of the y-axis to green.

ax = gca;
ax.XAxis.Color = 'r';
ax.YAxis.Color = 'g';

x-axis location, specified as one of the values in this table. This property applies only to 2-D views.

y-axis location, specified as one of the values in this table. This property applies only to 2-D views.

Color of the axis line, tick values, and labels in the x, y, or z direction, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The color you specify also affects the grid lines, unless you specify the grid line color using the GridColor or MinorGridColor property.

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

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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

Example: ax.XColor = [1 1 0]

Example: ax.YColor = 'y'

Example: ax.ZColor = 'yellow'

Example: ax.ZColor = '#FFFF00'

Property for setting the x-axis grid color, specified as 'auto' or 'manual'. The mode value only affects the x-axis grid color. The x-axis line, tick values, and labels always use the XColor value, regardless of the mode.

The x-axis grid color depends on both the XColorMode property and the GridColorMode property, as shown here.

The x-axis minor grid color depends on both the XColorMode property and the MinorGridColorMode property, as shown here.

Property for setting the y-axis grid color, specified as 'auto' or 'manual'. The mode value only affects the y-axis grid color. The y-axis line, tick values, and labels always use the YColor value, regardless of the mode.

The y-axis grid color depends on both the YColorMode property and the GridColorMode property, as shown here.

The y-axis minor grid color depends on both the YColorMode property and the MinorGridColorMode property, as shown here.

Property for setting the z-axis grid color, specified as 'auto' or 'manual'. The mode value only affects the z-axis grid color. The z-axis line, tick values, and labels always use the ZColor value, regardless of the mode.

The z-axis grid color depends on both the ZColorMode property and the GridColorMode property, as shown here.

The z-axis minor grid color depends on both the ZColorMode property and the MinorGridColorMode property, as shown here.

x-axis direction, specified as one of these values.

y-axis direction, specified as one of these values.

z-axis direction, specified as one of these values.

Axis scale, specified as one of these values.

Value	Description	Result
'linear'	Linear scale Example: ax.XScale = 'linear'
'log'	Log scale Example: ax.XScale = 'log' Note The axes might exclude coordinates in some cases: If the coordinates include positive and negative values, only the positive values are displayed. If the coordinates are all negative, all of the values are displayed on a log scale with the appropriate sign. Zero values are not displayed.

Grid 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.

Alternatively, use the grid on or grid off command to set all three properties to 'on' or 'off', respectively. For more information, see grid.

Example: ax.XGrid = 'on'

Placement of grid lines and tick marks in relation to graphic objects, specified as one of these values:

This property affects only 2-D views.

Example: ax.Layer = 'top'

Line style for grid lines, specified as one of the line styles in this table.

To display the grid lines, use the grid on command or set the XGrid, YGrid, or ZGrid property to 'on'.

Example: ax.GridLineStyle = '--'

Grid line width, specified as a positive number. Set this property or the MinorGridLineWidth property to control the thickness of the grid lines independently of the box outline and tick marks.

Example

Create vectors x and y, and plot them. Display the grid lines in the axes by calling grid on. Increase the thickness of the grid lines, box outline, and tick marks by setting the LineWidth property of the axes to 1.5.

x = linspace(0,10);
y = sin(x);
plot(x,y)
grid on
ax = gca;
ax.LineWidth = 1.5;

Make the grid lines thinner by setting the grid line width to 0.5.

ax.GridLineWidth = 0.5;

How the grid line width is set, specified as one of these values:

MATLAB sets this property to "manual" when you explicitly set the GridLineWidth property to a value.

Color of grid lines, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.

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

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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

To set the colors for the axes box outline, use the XColor, YColor, and ZColor properties.

To display the grid lines, use the grid on command or set the XGrid, YGrid, or ZGrid property to 'on'.

Example: ax.GridColor = [0 0 1]

Example: ax.GridColor = 'b'

Example: ax.GridColor = 'blue'

Example: ax.GridColor = '#0000FF'

Property for setting the grid color, specified as one of these values:

Grid-line transparency, specified as a value in the range [0,1]. A value of 1 means opaque and a value of 0 means completely transparent.

Example: ax.GridAlpha = 0.5

Selection mode for the GridAlpha property, specified as one of these values:

Example: ax.GridAlphaMode = 'auto'

Minor grid 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.

Alternatively, use the grid minor command to toggle the visibility of the minor grid lines.

Example: ax.XMinorGrid = 'on'

Line style for minor grid lines, specified as one of the line styles shown in this table.

To display minor grid lines, use the grid minor command or set the XMinorGrid, YMinorGrid, or ZMinorGrid property to 'on'.

Example: ax.MinorGridLineStyle = '-.'

Minor grid line width, specified as a positive number. Set this property or the GridLineWidth property to control the thickness of the grid lines independently of the box outline and tick marks.

How the minor grid line width is set, specified as one of these values:

MATLAB sets this property to "manual" when you explicitly set the MinorGridLineWidth property to a value.

Color of minor grid lines, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.

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

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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

To display minor grid lines, use the grid minor command or set the XMinorGrid, YMinorGrid, or ZMinorGrid property to 'on'.

Example: ax.MinorGridColor = [0 0 1]

Example: ax.MinorGridColor = 'b'

Example: ax.MinorGridColor = 'blue'

Example: ax.MinorGridColor = '#0000FF'

Property for setting the minor grid color, specified as one of these values:

Minor grid line transparency, specified as a value in the range [0,1]. A value of 1 means opaque and a value of 0 means completely transparent.

Example: ax.MinorGridAlpha = 0.5

Selection mode for the MinorGridAlpha property, specified as one of these values:

Example: ax.MinorGridAlphaMode = 'auto'

Text object for the axes title. To add a title, set the String property of the text object. To change the title appearance, such as the font style or color, set other properties. For a complete list, see Text Properties.

ax = gca;
ax.Title.String = 'My Title';
ax.Title.FontWeight = 'normal';

Alternatively, use the title function to add a title and control the appearance.

title('My Title','FontWeight','normal')

Text object for the axes subtitle. To add a subtitle, set the String property of the text object. To change its appearance, such as the font angle, set other properties. For a complete list, see Text Properties.

ax = gca;
ax.Subtitle.String = 'An Insightful Subtitle';
ax.Subtitle.FontAngle = 'italic';

Alternatively, use the subtitle function to add a subtitle and control the appearance.

subtitle('An Insightful Subtitle','FontAngle','italic')

Or use the title function, and specify two character vector input arguments and two output arguments. Then set properties on the second text object returned by the function.

[t,s] = title('Clever Title','An Insightful Subtitle');
s.FontAngle = 'italic';

Title and subtitle horizontal alignment with the plot box, specified as one of the values from the table.

Text object for axis label. To add an axis label, set the String property of the text object. To change the label appearance, such as the font size, set other properties. For a complete list, see Text Properties.

ax = gca;
ax.YLabel.String = 'My y-Axis Label';
ax.YLabel.FontSize = 12;

Alternatively, use the xlabel, ylabel, and zlabel functions to add an axis label and control the appearance.

ylabel('My y-Axis Label','FontSize',12)

Legend associated with the Axes object, specified as a Legend object. To add a legend to the axes, use the legend function. Then, you can use this property to modify the legend. For a complete list of properties, see Legend Properties.

plot(rand(3))
legend({'Line 1','Line 2','Line 3'},'FontSize',12)
ax = gca;
ax.Legend.TextColor = 'red';

You also can use this property to determine if the axes has a legend.

ax = gca;
lgd = ax.Legend
if ~isempty(lgd)
    disp('Legend Exists')
end

Color order, specified as a three-column matrix of RGB triplets. This property defines the palette of colors MATLAB uses to create plot objects such as Line, Scatter, and Bar objects. Each row of the array is an RGB triplet. An RGB triplet is a three-element vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of a color. The intensities must be in the range [0, 1]. This table lists the default colors.

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

MATLAB assigns colors to objects according to their order of creation. For example, when plotting lines, the first line uses the first color, the second line uses the second color, and so on. If there are more lines than colors, then the cycle repeats.

Changing the Color Order Before or After Plotting

You can change the color order in either of the following ways:

Line style order, specified as a character vector, a cell array of character vectors, or a string array. This property lists the line styles that MATLAB uses to display multiple plot lines in the axes. MATLAB assigns styles to lines according to their order of creation. By default, it changes to the next line style only after cycling through all the colors in the ColorOrder property with the current line style. Set the LineStyleCyclingMethod property to "withcolor" to cycle through both together or to "beforecolor" to cycle through the line styles first. The default LineStyleOrder has only one line style, "-".

To customize the line style order, create a cell array of character vectors or a string array. Specify each element of the array as a line specifier or marker specifier from the following tables. You can combine a line and a marker specifier into a single element, such as "-*".

Changing Line Style Order Before or After Plotting

You can change the line style order before or after plotting into the axes. When you set the LineStyleOrder property to a new value, MATLAB updates the styles of any lines that are in the axes. If you continue plotting into the axes, your plotting commands continue using the line styles from the updated list.

How to cycle through the line styles when there are multiple lines in the axes, specified as one of the values from this table.

The examples in this table were created using the default colors in the ColorOrder property and three line styles (["-","-o","--"]) in the LineStyleOrder property.

SeriesIndex value for the next plot object added to the axes, returned as a whole number greater than or equal to 0. This property is useful when you want to track how the objects cycle through the colors and line styles. This property maintains a count of the objects in the axes that have a numeric SeriesIndex property value. MATLAB uses it to assign a SeriesIndex value to each new object. The count starts at 1 when you create the axes, and it increases by 1 for each additional object. Thus, the count is typically n+1, where n is the number of objects in the axes.

If you manually change the ColorOrderIndex or LineStyleOrderIndex property on the axes, the value of the NextSeriesIndex property changes to 0. As a consequence, objects that have a SeriesIndex property no longer update automatically when you change the ColorOrder or LineStyleOrder properties on the axes.

Properties to reset when adding a new plot to the axes, specified as one of these values:

Figures also have a NextPlot property. Alternatively, you can use the newplot function to prepare figures and axes for subsequent graphics commands.

Order for rendering objects, specified as one of these values:

Color order index, specified as a positive integer. This property specifies the next color MATLAB selects from the axes ColorOrder property when it creates the next plot object such as a Line, Scatter, or Bar object.

Line style order index, specified as a positive integer. This property specifies the next line style MATLAB selects from the axes LineStyleOrder property to create the next plot line.

Color map, specified as an m-by-3 array of RGB (red, green, blue) triplets that define m individual colors.

Example: ax.Colormap = [1 0 1; 0 0 1; 1 1 0] sets the color map to three colors: magenta, blue, and yellow.

MATLAB accesses these colors by their row number.

Alternatively, use the colormap function to change the color map.

Scale for color mapping, specified as one of these values:

Color limits for objects in axes that use the colormap, specified as a two-element vector of the form [cmin cmax]. This property determines how data values map to the colors in the colormap where:

The Axes object interpolates data values between cmin and cmax across the colormap. Values outside this range use either the first or last color, whichever is closest.

Selection mode for the CLim property, specified as one of these values:

Transparency map, specified as an array of finite alpha values that progress linearly from 0 to 1. The size of the array can be m-by-1 or 1-by-m. MATLAB accesses alpha values by their index in the array. An alphamap can be any length.

Scale for transparency mapping, specified as one of these values:

Alpha limits, specified as a two-element vector of the form [amin amax]. This property affects the AlphaData values of graphics objects, such as surface, image, and patch objects. This property determines how the AlphaData values map to the figure alpha map, where:

The Axes object interpolates data values between amin and amax across the figure alpha map. Values outside this range use either the first or last alpha map value, whichever is closest.

The Alphamap property of the figure contains the alpha map. For more information, see the alpha function.

Selection mode for the ALim property, specified as one of these values:

Background color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.

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

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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

Example: ax.Color = [0 0 1];

Example: ax.Color = 'b';

Example: ax.Color = 'blue';

Example: ax.Color = '#0000FF';

Line width of axes outline, tick marks, and grid lines, specified as a positive numeric value in point units. One point equals 1/72 inch.

Example: ax.LineWidth = 1.5

Box outline, 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.

The XColor, YColor, and ZColor properties control the color of the outline.

Example: ax.Box = 'on'

Box outline style, specified as 'back' or 'full'. This property affects only 3-D views.

Clipping of objects 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.

The clipping behavior of an object within the Axes object depends on both the Clipping property of the Axes object and the Clipping property of the individual object. The property value of the Axes object has these effects:

This table lists the results for different combinations of Clipping property values.

Clipping boundaries, specified as one of the values in this table. If a plot contains markers, then as long as the data point lies within the axes limits, MATLAB draws the entire marker.

The ClippingStyle property has no effect if the Clipping property is set to 'off'.

Background light color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The background light is a directionless light that shines uniformly on all objects in the axes. To add light, use the light function.

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

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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

Example: ax.AmbientLightColor = [1 0 1]

Example: ax.AmbientLightColor = 'm'

Example: ax.AmbientLightColor = 'magenta'

Example: ax.AmbientLightColor = '#FF00FF'

Size and location, including the labels and a margin, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. By default, MATLAB measures the values in units normalized to the container. To change the units, set the Units property. The default value of [0 0 1 1] includes the whole interior of the container.

These figures show the areas defined by the OuterPosition values (blue) and the Position values (red).

For more information on the axes position, see Control Axes Layout.

Inner size and location, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. This property is equivalent to the Position property.

Size and location, excluding a margin for the labels, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. By default, MATLAB measures the values in units normalized to the container. To change the units, set the Units property.

If you want to specify the position and account for the text around the axes, then set the OuterPosition property instead. These figures show the areas defined by the OuterPosition values (blue) and the Position values (red).

For more information on the axes position, see Control Axes Layout.

Margins for the text labels, returned as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom right top]. By default, MATLAB measures the values in units normalized to the container. To change the units, set the Units property.

The elements define the distances between the bounds of the Position property and the extent of the surrounding text. The Position values combined with the TightInset values define the tightest bounding box that encloses the axes and the surrounding text.

These figures show the areas defined by the OuterPosition values (blue), the Position values (red), and the Position expanded by the TightInset values (magenta).

For more information, see Control Axes Layout.

Position property to hold constant when adding, removing, or changing decorations, specified as one of the following values:

Position units, specified as one of these values.

When specifying the units as a Name,Value pair during object creation, you must set the Units property before specifying the properties that you want to use these units, such as Position.

Relative length of data units along each axis, specified as a three-element vector of the form [dx dy dz]. This vector defines the relative x, y, and z data scale factors. For example, specifying this property as [1 2 1] sets the length of one unit of data in the x-direction to be the same length as two units of data in the y-direction and one unit of data in the z-direction.

Alternatively, use the daspect function to change the data aspect ratio.

Example: ax.DataAspectRatio = [1 1 1]

Data aspect ratio mode, specified as one of these values:

Relative length of each axis, specified as a three-element vector of the form [px py pz] defining the relative x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis scale factors. The plot box is a box enclosing the axes data region as defined by the axis limits.

Alternatively, use the pbaspect function to change the plot box aspect ratio.

If you specify the axis limits, data aspect ratio, and plot box aspect ratio, then MATLAB ignores the plot box aspect ratio. It adheres to the axis limits and data aspect ratio.

Example: ax.PlotBoxAspectRatio = [1 0.75 0.75]

Selection mode for the PlotBoxAspectRatio property, specified as one of these values:

Layout options, specified as a TiledChartLayoutOptions or a GridLayoutOptions object. This property is useful when the axes object is either in a tiled chart layout or a grid layout.

To position the axes within the grid of a tiled chart layout, set the Tile and TileSpan properties on the TiledChartLayoutOptions object. For example, consider a 3-by-3 tiled chart layout. The layout has a grid of tiles in the center, and four tiles along the outer edges. In practice, the grid is invisible and the outer tiles do not take up space until you populate them with axes or charts.

This code places the axes ax in the third tile of the grid.

ax.Layout.Tile = 3;

To make the axes span multiple tiles, specify the TileSpan property as a two-element vector. For example, this axes spans 2 rows and 3 columns of tiles.

ax.Layout.TileSpan = [2 3];

To place the axes in one of the surrounding tiles, specify the Tile property as 'north', 'south', 'east', or 'west'. For example, setting the value to 'east' places the axes in the tile to the right of the grid.

ax.Layout.Tile = 'east';

To place the axes into a layout within an app, specify this property as a GridLayoutOptions object. For more information about working with grid layouts in apps, see uigridlayout.

If the axes is not a child of either a tiled chart layout or a grid layout (for example, if it is a child of a figure or panel) then this property is empty and has no effect.

Azimuth and elevation of view, specified as a two-element vector of the form [azimuth elevation] defined in degree units. Alternatively, use the view function to set the view.

Example: ax.View = [45 45]

Type of projection onto a 2-D screen, specified as one of these values:

Camera location, or the viewpoint, specified as a three-element vector of the form [x y z]. This vector defines the axes coordinates of the camera location, which is the point from which you view the axes. The camera is oriented along the view axis, which is a straight line that connects the camera position and the camera target. For an illustration, see Camera Graphics Terminology.

If the Projection property is set to 'perspective', then as you change the CameraPosition setting, the amount of perspective also changes.

Alternatively, use the campos function to set the camera location.

Example: ax.CameraPosition = [0.5 0.5 9]

Selection mode for the CameraPosition property, specified as one of these values:

Camera target point, specified as a three-element vector of the form [x y z]. This vector defines the axes coordinates of the point. The camera is oriented along the view axis, which is a straight line that connects the camera position and the camera target. For an illustration, see Camera Graphics Terminology.

Alternatively, use the camtarget function to set the camera target.

Example: ax.CameraTarget = [0.5 0.5 0.5]

Selection mode for the CameraTarget property, specified as one of these values:

Vector defining upwards direction, specified as a three-element direction vector of the form [x y z]. For 2-D views, the default value is [0 1 0]. For 3-D views, the default value is [0 0 1]. For an illustration, see Camera Graphics Terminology.

Alternatively, use the camup function to set the upwards direction.

Example: ax.CameraUpVector = [sin(45) cos(45) 1]

Selection mode for the CameraUpVector property, specified as one of these values:

Field of view, specified as a scalar angle greater than 0 and less than or equal to 180. Changing the camera view angle affects the size of graphics objects displayed in the axes, but does not affect the degree of perspective distortion. The greater the angle, the larger the field of view and the smaller objects appear in the scene. For an illustration, see Camera Graphics Terminology.

Example: ax.CameraViewAngle = 15

Selection mode for the CameraViewAngle property, specified as one of these values:

Options to customize interaction behavior, specified as a CartesianAxesInteractionOptions object. Use the properties of the CartesianAxesInteractionOptions object to customize the behavior of interactions with the axes. For a complete list of properties, see CartesianAxesInteractionOptions Properties.

The options set by the CartesianAxesInteractionOptions object apply to these interactions on the associated axes:

Example: ax.InteractionOptions.LimitsDimensions = "x" constrains all pan and zoom interactions to the x-dimension.

Data exploration toolbar, which is an AxesToolbar object. The toolbar appears at the top-right corner of the axes when you hover over it.

The toolbar buttons depend on the contents of the axes, but typically include zooming, panning, rotating, data tips, data brushing, and restoring the original view. You can customize the toolbar buttons using the axtoolbar and axtoolbarbtn functions.

If you do not want the toolbar to appear when you hover over the axes, set the Visible property of the AxesToolbar object to 'off'.

ax = gca;
ax.Toolbar.Visible = 'off';

For more information, see AxesToolbar Properties.

Interactions, specified as an array of interaction objects or an empty array. The interactions you specify are available within your chart through gestures. You do not have to select any axes toolbar buttons to use them. For example, a panInteraction object enables dragging to pan within a chart. For a list of interaction objects, see Control Chart Interactivity.

The default set of interactions depends on the type of chart you are displaying. You can replace the default set with a new set of interactions, but you cannot access or modify any of the interactions in the default set. For example, this code replaces the default set of interactions with the panInteraction and zoomInteraction objects.

ax = gca;
ax.Interactions = [panInteraction zoomInteraction];

To remove all interactions from the axes, set this property to an empty array. To temporarily disable the current set of interactions, call the disableDefaultInteractivity function. You can reenable them by calling the enableDefaultInteractivity function.

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.

Location of mouse pointer, returned as a 2-by-3 array. The CurrentPoint property contains the (x,y,z) coordinates of the mouse pointer with respect to the axes. The returned array is of the form:

[xfront yfront zfront
 xback  yback  zback]

The two points indicate the location of the last mouse click. However, if the figure has a WindowButtonMotionFcn callback defined, then the points indicate the last location of the mouse pointer. The figure also has a CurrentPoint property.

The values of the current point when using perspective projection can be different from the same point in orthographic projection because the shape of the axes volume can be different.

Orthogonal Projection

When using orthogonal projection, the values depend on whether the click is within the axes or outside the axes.

Perspective Projection

Clicking outside of the Axes object in perspective projection returns the front point as the current camera position. Only the back point updates with the coordinates of a point that lies on a line extending from the camera position through the pointer and intersecting the camera target at that point.

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.

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.

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.

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

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:

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

Object creation function, specified as one of these values:

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:

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 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:

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:

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

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:

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

If you want an object to be clickable when it is underneath other objects that you do not want to be clickable, then set the PickableParts property of the other objects to 'none' so that the click passes through them.

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.

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