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Text Properties

Tiled chart layout text appearance and behavior

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Text properties control the appearance and behavior of the Text objects used for shared titles and axis labels in tiled chart layouts. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the text.

t = tiledlayout(2,2);
txt = title(t,'My Title');
txt.FontSize = 16;

Text

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Text to display, specified as a character vector, cell array of character vectors, string array, categorical array, or numeric value. Specify a value according to how you want the text to appear. This table lists the most common situations.

Appearance of TextDescription of ValueExample
One line of text Character vector or 1-by-1 string array.

str = 'My Text'
or
str = "My Text"

Multiple lines of textCell array of character vectors or a string array.

str = {'First line','Second line'};
or
str = ["First line", "Second line"];

Text that includes a numeric variableArray that includes the number converted to a char array. Use num2str to convert the value.

x = 42;
str = ['The value is ',num2str(x)];

Text that includes special characters such as Greek letters or mathematical symbolsArray that includes TeX markup. For a list of supported markup, see the Interpreter property.

str = 'x ranges from 0 to 2\pi'

Note

  • The words default, factory, and remove are reserved words that do not appear in text when quoted as normal characters. To display any of these words individually, precede them with a backslash, such as '\default' or '\remove'.

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

  • If you specify text that contains only a numeric value, the value is converted using sprintf('%g',value). For example, 12345678 displays as 1.23457e+07.

Text color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of [0 0 0] corresponds to black.

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

  • An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

  • A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

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

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
"red""r"[1 0 0]"#FF0000"

Sample of the color red

"green""g"[0 1 0]"#00FF00"

Sample of the color green

"blue""b"[0 0 1]"#0000FF"

Sample of the color blue

"cyan" "c"[0 1 1]"#00FFFF"

Sample of the color cyan

"magenta""m"[1 0 1]"#FF00FF"

Sample of the color magenta

"yellow""y"[1 1 0]"#FFFF00"

Sample of the color yellow

"black""k"[0 0 0]"#000000"

Sample of the color black

"white""w"[1 1 1]"#FFFFFF"

Sample of the color white

"none"Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]"#0072BD"

Sample of RGB triplet [0 0.4470 0.7410], which appears as dark blue

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]"#D95319"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], which appears as dark orange

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]"#EDB120"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.9290 0.6940 0.1250], which appears as dark yellow

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]"#7E2F8E"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4940 0.1840 0.5560], which appears as dark purple

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]"#77AC30"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4660 0.6740 0.1880], which appears as medium green

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]"#4DBEEE"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.3010 0.7450 0.9330], which appears as light blue

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]"#A2142F"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.6350 0.0780 0.1840], which appears as dark red

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

Example: '#0000FF'

Text interpreter, specified as one of these values:

  • 'tex' — Interpret characters using a subset of TeX markup.

  • 'latex' — Interpret characters using LaTeX markup.

  • 'none' — Display literal characters.

TeX Markup

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

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.

ModifierDescriptionExample
^{ }Superscript'text^{superscript}'
_{ }Subscript'text_{subscript}'
\bfBold font'\bf text'
\itItalic font'\it text'
\slOblique font (usually the same as italic font)'\sl text'
\rmNormal font'\rm text'
\fontname{specifier}Font name — Replace specifier with the name of a font family. You can use this in combination with other modifiers.'\fontname{Courier} text'
\fontsize{specifier}Font size —Replace specifier with a numeric scalar value in point units.'\fontsize{15} text'
\color{specifier}Font color — Replace specifier with one of these colors: red, green, yellow, magenta, blue, black, white, gray, darkGreen, orange, or lightBlue.'\color{magenta} text'
\color[rgb]{specifier}Custom font color — Replace specifier with a three-element RGB triplet.'\color[rgb]{0,0.5,0.5} text'

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

Character SequenceSymbolCharacter SequenceSymbolCharacter SequenceSymbol

\alpha

α

\upsilon

υ

\sim

~

\angle

∠

\phi

ϕ

\leq

≤

\ast

*

\chi

χ

\infty

∞

\beta

β

\psi

ψ

\clubsuit

♣

\gamma

γ

\omega

ω

\diamondsuit

♦

\delta

δ

\Gamma

Γ

\heartsuit

♥

\epsilon

ϵ

\Delta

Δ

\spadesuit

♠

\zeta

ζ

\Theta

Θ

\leftrightarrow

↔

\eta

η

\Lambda

Λ

\leftarrow

←

\theta

θ

\Xi

Ξ

\Leftarrow

⇐

\vartheta

ϑ

\Pi

Π

\uparrow

↑

\iota

ι

\Sigma

Σ

\rightarrow

→

\kappa

κ

\Upsilon

ϒ

\Rightarrow

⇒

\lambda

λ

\Phi

Φ

\downarrow

↓

\mu

µ

\Psi

Ψ

\circ

º

\nu

ν

\Omega

Ω

\pm

±

\xi

ξ

\forall

∀

\geq

≥

\pi

π

\exists

∃

\propto

∝

\rho

ρ

\ni

∍

\partial

∂

\sigma

σ

\cong

≅

\bullet

•

\varsigma

ς

\approx

≈

\div

÷

\tau

τ

\Re

ℜ

\neq

≠

\equiv

≡

\oplus

⊕

\aleph

ℵ

\Im

ℑ

\cup

∪

\wp

℘

\otimes

⊗

\subseteq

⊆

\oslash

∅

\cap

∩

\in

∈

\supseteq

⊇

\supset

⊃

\lceil

⌈

\subset

⊂

\int

∫

\cdot

·

\o

ο

\rfloor

⌋

\neg

¬

\nabla

∇

\lfloor

⌊

\times

x

\ldots

...

\perp

⊥

\surd

√

\prime

´

\wedge

∧

\varpi

ϖ

\0

∅

\rceil

⌉

\rangle

〉

\mid

|

\vee

∨

\langle

〈

\copyright

©

LaTeX Markup

To use LaTeX markup, set the interpreter to 'latex'. For inline mode, surround the markup with single dollar signs ($). For display mode, surround the markup with double dollar signs ($$).

LaTeX ModeExampleResult
Inline

'$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$'

Equation with LaTeX inline mode

Display

'$$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$$'

Equation with LaTeX 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.

The maximum size of the text that you can use with the LaTeX interpreter is 1200 characters. For multiline text, this reduces by about 10 characters per line.

For examples that use TeX and LaTeX, see Greek Letters and Special Characters in Chart Text. For more information about the LaTeX system, see The LaTeX Project website at https://www.latex-project.org/.

Horizontal alignment of the text, specified as 'center', 'left', or 'right'.

Vertical alignment of the text, specified as 'middle', 'top', 'bottom', 'baseline', or 'cap'. The default value is 'bottom' for shared titles and y-axis labels. For shared x-axis labels, the default value is 'top'.

Text orientation, specified as a scalar value in degrees. The default rotation of 0 degrees makes the text horizontal. For vertical text, set this property to 90 or -90. Positive values rotate the text counterclockwise. Negative values rotate the text clockwise.

Font

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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.

Font size, specified as a scalar value greater than zero in point units. One point equals 1/72 inch. The default font size for a shared title is 13. For a shared x-axis or y-axis label, the default font size is 12.

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.

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.

Interactivity

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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.

  • "on" — Display the object.

  • "off" — Hide the object without deleting it. You still can access the properties of an invisible object.

Parent/Child

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Parent, specified as a TiledChartLayout object.

The object has no children. You cannot set this property.

Visibility of the object handle in the Children property of the parent, specified as one of these values:

  • "on" — Object handle is always visible.

  • "off" — Object handle is invisible at all times. This option is useful for preventing unintended changes by another function. Set HandleVisibility to "off" to temporarily hide the handle during the execution of that function.

  • "callback" — Object handle is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command line, but permits callback functions to access it.

If the object is not listed in the Children property of the parent, then functions that obtain object handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties cannot return it. Examples of such functions include the get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close functions.

Hidden object handles are still valid. Set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to "on" to list all object handles regardless of their HandleVisibility property setting.

Version History

Introduced in R2019b

See Also

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