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tightPosition

Position of axes plotting area

Since R2022b

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    Syntax

    pos = tightPosition(ax)
    pos = tightPosition(ax,IncludeLabels=true)

    Description

    pos = tightPosition(ax) returns the position of the rectangle that circumscribes the plotting area of the axes ax. The result is a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height] that describes the position and size of the rectangle in the units specified in the Units property of the axes object. By default, the units are normalized values between 0 and 1.

    example

    pos = tightPosition(ax,IncludeLabels=true) returns the position of the rectangle that surrounds the title, subtitle, tick labels, and axis labels. If any of the labels are close to the edge of the figure, the position rectangle might fall outside the bounds of the figure.

    example

    Examples

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    Open Live Script

    Plot a spiral. Use the axis function to adjust the plot box so that the x- and y-scales are equal and so that the plot box surrounds the spiral tightly. 

    t = linspace(0,10,100);
ax = axes;
plot(t.*sin(t),t.*cos(t))
axis equal tight

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

    Get the position vector, and use that vector to draw a red rectangle that circumscribes the plotting area. For Cartesian axes, the plotting area is the area inside the plot box. This rectangle is coincident with the plot box.

    pos = tightPosition(ax);
annotation("rectangle",pos,Color="red",LineWidth=2)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

    Get the position vector that includes the axis tick labels, and use that vector to draw a blue rectangle around the plot box and the tick labels.

    poslab = tightPosition(ax,IncludeLabels=true);
annotation("rectangle",poslab,Color="blue",LineWidth=2)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

    Open Live Script

    Load the mri data set and display the MRI image stored in the D variable. Use the axis function to preserve the aspect ratio of the image.

    figure
ax = axes;
load mri
image(D(:,:,10))
axis image

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type image.

    Get the position vector, and use that vector to draw a red rectangle that circumscribes the plotting (image) area. For Cartesian axes, the plotting area is the area inside the plot box. This rectangle is coincident with the plot box.

    pos = tightPosition(ax);
annotation("rectangle",pos,Color="red",LineWidth=2)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type image.

    Get the position vector that includes the axis tick labels, and use that vector to draw a blue rectangle around the plot box and the tick labels.

    poslab = tightPosition(ax,IncludeLabels=true);
annotation("rectangle",poslab,Color="blue",LineWidth=2)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type image.

    Input Arguments

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    Axes object, specified as an Axes, PolarAxes, or GeographicAxes object.

    Output Arguments

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    Position vector, returned as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height].

    This vector specifies the position and size of the circumscribing rectangle in the units specified by the Units property of the axes object. By default, the units are normalized values between 0 and 1.

    • The left value is the distance between the left edge of the parent container and the left edge of the rectangle. The parent container is typically a figure, panel, or tab.

    • The bottom value is the distance between the bottom edge of the parent container and the bottom edge of the rectangle.

    • The width and height values define the width and height of the rectangle.

    Version History

    Introduced in R2022b

    See Also

    Properties

    Functions

    Topics