Bar Properties
Bar chart appearance and behavior
Bar
properties control the appearance and
behavior of a Bar
object. By changing property values,
you can modify certain aspects of the bar chart. Use dot notation to query and set
properties.
b = bar(1:10); c = b.FaceColor b.FaceColor = [0 0.5 0.5];
Color and Styling
FaceColor
— Fill color
'flat'
| RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r'
| 'g'
| 'b'
| ...
Fill color, specified as 'flat'
, an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal
color code, a color name, or a short name. The 'flat'
option uses the
CData
property value of the Bar
object to
color the faces.
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 from0
toF
. 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 Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] | "#FF0000" | |
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] | "#00FF00" | |
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] | "#0000FF" | |
"cyan"
| "c" | [0 1 1] | "#00FFFF" | |
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] | "#FF00FF" | |
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] | "#FFFF00" | |
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] | "#000000" | |
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] | "#FFFFFF" | |
"none" | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | No color |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB® uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
Starting in R2017b, the default value is an RGB triplet from the
ColorOrder
property of the axes. In previous releases, the
default value was 'flat'
and the colors were based on the
colormap.
Example: b = bar(1:10,'FaceColor','red')
Example: b.FaceColor = [0 0.5 0.5];
Example: b.FaceColor = 'flat';
Example: b.FaceColor = '#D2F9A7';
FaceColorMode
— Control how FaceColor
is set
"auto"
(default) | "manual"
Control how the FaceColor
property is set, specified as one of these values:
"auto"
— MATLAB controls the value of theFaceColor
property by using theSeriesIndex
property of theBar
object and theColorOrder
property of the axes."manual"
— You set the value of theFaceColor
property directly, or indirectly as a function argument when you create theBar
object.
If you change the value of the FaceColor
property manually, MATLAB changes the value of the FaceColorMode
property to
"manual"
.
EdgeColor
— Outline color
'flat'
| RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r'
| 'g'
| 'b'
| ...
Outline color, specified as 'flat'
, an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal
color code, a color name, or a short name. If there are 150 bars or fewer, the default
value is [0 0 0]
, which corresponds to black. If there are more than
150 adjacent bars, the default value is 'none'
.
Starting in R2017b, the 'flat'
option uses the
CData
values to color the edges. In previous releases, the
'flat'
option colored the edges using colors from the
colormap.
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 from0
toF
. 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 Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] | "#FF0000" | |
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] | "#00FF00" | |
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] | "#0000FF" | |
"cyan"
| "c" | [0 1 1] | "#00FFFF" | |
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] | "#FF00FF" | |
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] | "#FFFF00" | |
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] | "#000000" | |
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] | "#FFFFFF" | |
"none" | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | No color |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
Example: b = bar(1:10,'EdgeColor','red')
Example: b.EdgeColor = [0 0.5 0.5];
Example: b.EdgeColor = 'flat';
Example: b.EdgeColor = '#D2F9A7';
FaceAlpha
— Face transparency
1
(default) | scalar in range [0,1]
Face transparency, specified as a scalar in the range
[0,1]
. A value of 1 is opaque and 0 is completely
transparent. Values between 0 and 1 are semitransparent.
Example: b = bar(1:10,'FaceAlpha',0.5)
Example: b.FaceAlpha = 0.5;
EdgeAlpha
— Edge transparency
1
(default) | scalar in range [0,1]
Edge transparency, specified as a scalar in the range
[0,1]
. A value of 1 is opaque and 0 is completely
transparent. Values between 0 and 1 are semitransparent.
Example: b = bar(1:10,'EdgeAlpha',0.5)
Example: b.EdgeAlpha = 0.5;
LineStyle
— Line style
"-"
(default) | "--"
| ":"
| "-."
| "none"
Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.
Line Style | Description | Resulting Line |
---|---|---|
"-" | Solid line |
|
"--" | Dashed line |
|
":" | Dotted line |
|
"-." | Dash-dotted line |
|
"none" | No line | No line |
LineWidth
— Width of bar outlines
0.5
(default) | positive value
Width of bar outlines, specified as a positive value in point units. One point equals 1/72 inch.
Example: 1.5
Data Types: single
| double
| int8
| int16
| int32
| int64
| uint8
| uint16
| uint32
| uint64
SeriesIndex
— Series index
positive whole number | "none"
Series index, specified as a positive whole number or
"none"
. This property is useful for matching the
colors of graphics objects, such as text, plot lines, or other
Bar
objects.
By default, the SeriesIndex
property of a
Bar
object is a number that corresponds to
its order of creation, starting at 1
. MATLAB uses the number to calculate an index for automatically
assigning colors when you call plotting functions. The index refers to the
rows of the array stored in the ColorOrder
property of
the axes. Any objects in the axes that have the same
SeriesIndex
number will have the same color.
A SeriesIndex
value of "none"
corresponds to a neutral color that does
not participate in the indexing scheme. (since R2023b)
How Manual Color Assignment Overrides SeriesIndex
Behavior
To manually control the colors of the bars, use either of these approaches:
One color for all bars — Set the
FaceColor
property to a color name, RGB triplet, or a hexadecimal color code.Different colors for one or more bars — Set the
FaceColor
property to"flat"
. Then set theCData
property to an RGB triplet, matrix of RGB triplets, scalar colormap index, or a vector of colormap indices.
When you manually set the color of a Bar
object, MATLAB disables automatic color selection for that object and
allows your color to persist, regardless of the value of the
SeriesIndex
property. The mode properties,
FaceColorMode
and
CDataMode
, indicate whether the colors have
been set manually (by you) or automatically. A value of
"manual"
indicates manual selection, and a value
of "auto"
indicates automatic selection.
To enable automatic selection again, set the
SeriesIndex
property to a positive whole number
and perform either of these steps:
Set the
FaceColorMode
property to"auto"
.Set the
FaceColor
property to"flat"
, and set theCDataMode
property to"auto"
.
In some cases, MATLAB sets the SeriesIndex
property to
0
, which also disables automatic color
selection.
Bar Labels
Labels
— Bar labels
empty string (default) | string vector | cell array of character vectors | numeric vector | datetime vector | duration vector | categorical vector
Since R2024b
Bar labels, specified as a string vector, cell array of character vectors, numeric vector, datetime vector, duration vector, or categorical vector. The length of the vector must match the number of bars.
When the chart displays multiple series of grouped or stacked bars, each
series corresponds to one Bar
object. Set the
Labels
property for each Bar
object that you want labeled.
LabelLocation
— Location of bar labels
"end-inside"
| "end-outside"
Since R2024b
Location of bar labels, specified as "end-inside"
or
"end-outside"
. You might need to adjust the axes
limits to provide enough space for the labels.
Value | Example |
---|---|
|
|
|
|
LabelLocationMode
— Control how LabelLocation
is set
"auto"
(default) | "manual"
Since R2024b
Control how the LabelLocation
property is set,
specified as one of these values:
"auto"
— MATLAB controls the value of theLabelLocation
property depending on whether the bars are grouped or stacked."manual"
— You set the value of theLabelLocation
property directly, and the location does not change.
If you change the value of the LabelLocation
property
manually, MATLAB changes the value of the
LabelLocationMode
property to
"manual"
.
LabelColor
— Label color
RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r'
| 'g'
| 'b'
| ...
Since R2024b
Label color, specified as an RGB triplet, hexadecimal color code, color name, or short name. To use a different color for each label, specify an m-by-3 matrix of RGB triplets or a string vector of m hexadecimal color codes, color names, or short names. The value m is the number of labels (one for each bar).
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 from0
toF
. 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 Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] | "#FF0000" | |
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] | "#00FF00" | |
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] | "#0000FF" | |
"cyan"
| "c" | [0 1 1] | "#00FFFF" | |
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] | "#FF00FF" | |
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] | "#FFFF00" | |
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] | "#000000" | |
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] | "#FFFFFF" |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
LabelColorMode
— Control how LabelColor
is set
"auto"
(default) | "manual"
Since R2024b
Control how the LabelColor
property is set, specified
as one of these values:
"auto"
— MATLAB controls the value of theLabelColor
property by selecting a neutral contrasting color."manual"
— You set the value of theLabelColor
property directly, and the color does not change.
If you change the value of the LabelColor
property
manually, MATLAB changes the value of the LabelColorMode
property to "manual"
.
FontName
— Font name
supported font name | "FixedWidth"
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.
FontSize
— Font size
scalar numeric value
Font size, specified as a scalar value greater than zero in point units.
The default font size depends on the specific operating system and locale.
One point equals 1/72
inch.
FontWeight
— Character thickness
'normal'
(default) | 'bold'
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.
FontAngle
— Character slant
'normal'
(default) | 'italic'
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.
Interpreter
— Text interpreter
'tex'
(default) | 'latex'
| 'none'
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.
Modifier | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
^{ } | Superscript | 'text^{superscript}' |
_{ } | Subscript | 'text_{subscript}' |
\bf | Bold font | '\bf text' |
\it | Italic font | '\it text' |
\sl | Oblique font (usually the same as italic font) | '\sl text' |
\rm | Normal font | '\rm text' |
\fontname{ | Font name — Replace
with the name of
a font family. You can use this in combination with other modifiers. | '\fontname{Courier} text' |
\fontsize{ | Font size —Replace
with a numeric
scalar value in point units. | '\fontsize{15} text' |
\color{ | Font color — Replace
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
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 Sequence | Symbol | Character Sequence | Symbol | Character Sequence | Symbol |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| α |
| υ |
| ~ |
| ∠ |
| ϕ |
| ≤ |
|
|
| χ |
| ∞ |
| β |
| ψ |
| ♣ |
| γ |
| ω |
| ♦ |
| δ |
| Γ |
| ♥ |
| ϵ |
| Δ |
| ♠ |
| ζ |
| Θ |
| ↔ |
| η |
| Λ |
| ← |
| θ |
| Ξ |
| ⇐ |
| ϑ |
| Π |
| ↑ |
| ι |
| Σ |
| → |
| κ |
| ϒ |
| ⇒ |
| λ |
| Φ |
| ↓ |
| µ |
| Ψ |
| º |
| ν |
| Ω |
| ± |
| ξ |
| ∀ |
| ≥ |
| π |
| ∃ |
| ∝ |
| ρ |
| ∍ |
| ∂ |
| σ |
| ≅ |
| • |
| ς |
| ≈ |
| ÷ |
| τ |
| ℜ |
| ≠ |
| ≡ |
| ⊕ |
| ℵ |
| ℑ |
| ∪ |
| ℘ |
| ⊗ |
| ⊆ |
| ∅ |
| ∩ |
| ∈ |
| ⊇ |
| ⊃ |
| ⌈ |
| ⊂ |
| ∫ |
| · |
| ο |
| ⌋ |
| ¬ |
| ∇ |
| ⌊ |
| x |
| ... |
| ⊥ |
| √ |
| ´ |
| ∧ |
| ϖ |
| ∅ |
| ⌉ |
| 〉 |
| | |
| ∨ |
| 〈 |
| © |
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
($$
).
LaTeX Mode | Example | Result |
---|---|---|
Inline |
'$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$' |
|
Display |
'$$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$$' |
|
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/.
Bar Graph Type
BarLayout
— Arrangement of bars
'grouped'
(default) | 'stacked'
Arrangement of bars, specified as one of these values:
'grouped'
— Group bars by rows inY
, whereY
is the input argument to thebar
orbarh
function that created the bar chart.'stacked'
— Display one bar for each row inY
. The bar height is the sum of the elements in the row. Each bar is multicolored. Colors correspond to distinct elements and show the relative contribution each row element makes to the total sum.
BarWidth
— Relative width of individual bars
0.8
(default) | scalar in range [0, 1]
Relative width of individual bars, specified as a scalar in the range [0, 1]. Use this
property to control the space between the bars within a group. The default value is
0.8
, which separates the bars slightly. If you set this property
to 1
, the adjacent bars touch.
For example, these bar charts are same except for their BarWidth
values. As the BarWidth
value increases, the bars become
wider.
The BarWidth
value is
relative to the GroupWidth
property, which controls the amount of
space for a group of bars. As the GroupWidth
value increases, the
bars become wider. (since R2024a)
Plotting groups of bars produces multiple Bar
objects. Changing the
BarWidth
property of one object changes the value for all of
the objects.
GroupWidth
— Width of bar groups
scalar in range [0, 1]
Since R2024a
Width of the bar groups, specified as a scalar in the range [0, 1]. This
property specifies the fraction of the available space for a group of bars.
It has no effect if the bars are not grouped. A value of
1
uses all of the available space for each group, but
it minimizes the space between groups. Smaller values produce thinner bars
with more space between the groups.
For example, these bar charts are the same except for their
GroupWidth
values. As the
GroupWidth
value increases, the bars become wider
and the groups become harder to distinguish.
Plotting groups of bars produces multiple Bar
objects.
Changing the GroupWidth
property of one object changes
the value for all of the objects.
GroupWidthMode
— Control how GroupWidth
is set
"auto"
(default) | "manual"
Since R2024a
Control how the GroupWidth
property is set, specified
as one of these values:
"auto"
— MATLAB selects theGroupWidth
value based on the number of groups."manual"
— You specify theGroupWidth
value.
Horizontal
— Horizontal bar chart
'off'
(default) | on/off logical value
Horizontal bar chart, 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
.
Baseline
BaseValue
— Baseline value
0
(default) | numeric scalar value
Baseline value, specified as a numeric scalar value.
The baseline value that you specify applies to either the x-axis
or the y-axis depending on the bar chart orientation.
If you change the orientation of the bar chart from vertical to horizontal,
or vice versa, the baseline value might change. Set the BaseValue
property
after setting the Horizontal
property.
ShowBaseLine
— Baseline visibility
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
Baseline 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'
— Show the baseline.'off'
— Hide the baseline.
BaseLine
— Baseline
baseline object
This property is read-only.
Baseline object. For a list of baseline properties, see Baseline Properties.
Data
CData
— Color data
RGB triplet | three-column matrix | scalar | vector
Color data, specified as one of these values:
RGB triplet — Single RGB color value applies to all bars.
Three-column matrix — One color per bar. Each row in the matrix specifies an RGB triplet for a particular bar.
Scalar — Single color applies to all bars, where the color comes from the colormap.
Vector — One color per bar. The colors come from the colormap.
By default, when you create a bar chart, the CData
property
contains a three-column matrix of RGB triplets. You can change the color for a
particular bar by changing the corresponding row in the matrix.
This property applies only when the FaceColor
or
EdgeColor
property is set to 'flat'
.
Example
Change the color for a particular bar by setting the FaceColor
property to 'flat'
. Then change the corresponding row in the
CData
matrix to the new RGB triplet. For example, change the
color of the second bar.
b = bar(1:10,'FaceColor','flat'); b.CData(2,:) = [0 0.8 0.8];
CDataMode
— Control how CData
is set
"auto"
(default) | "manual"
Control how the CData
property is set, specified as
one of these values:
"auto"
— MATLAB controls the value of theCData
property."manual"
— You set the value of theCData
property directly, or indirectly as a function argument when you create theBar
object.
If you change the value of the CData
property
manually, MATLAB changes the value of the CDataMode
property to "manual"
.
XData
— Bar locations
vector
Bar locations, specified as a vector with no repeating values.
For vertical bar charts, the values are the bar locations along the x-axis.
For horizontal bar charts, the values are the bar locations along the y-axis.
Alternatively, specify the bar locations using the input argument
X
to the bar
or
barh
function. If you do not specify
X
, then the indices of the values in
YData
determine the bar locations.
XData
and YData
must have equal
lengths.
Example: 1:10
Data Types: single
| double
| int8
| int16
| int32
| int64
| uint8
| uint16
| uint32
| uint64
| categorical
| datetime
| duration
XDataMode
— Selection mode for XData
'auto'
(default) | 'manual'
Selection mode for XData
, specified as one
of these values:
'auto'
— Use the indices of the values inYData
(orZData
for 3-D plots).'manual'
— Use manually specified values. To specify the values, set theXData
property or specify the input argumentX
to the plotting function.
XDataSource
— Variable linked to XData
''
(default) | character vector | string
Variable linked to XData
, specified as a character vector or string
containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the
XData
.
By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty
character vector, ''
. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does
not update the XData
values immediately. To force
an update of the data values, use the refreshdata
function.
Note
If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.
Example: 'x'
YData
— Bar lengths
vector
Bar lengths, specified as a vector. Alternatively, specify the bar lengths
using the input argument Y
to the bar
or barh
function.
XData
and YData
must have equal
lengths.
Example: 1:10
Data Types: single
| double
| int8
| int16
| int32
| int64
| uint8
| uint16
| uint32
| uint64
| duration
YDataSource
— Variable linked to YData
''
(default) | character vector | string
Variable linked to YData
, specified as a character vector or string
containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the
YData
.
By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty
character vector, ''
. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does
not update the YData
values immediately. To force
an update of the data values, use the refreshdata
function.
Note
If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.
Example: 'y'
XEndPoints
— x-coordinates of bar tips
vector
This property is read-only.
x-coordinates of the tips of the bars, returned as a
vector. These coordinates are useful when you want to add text, error bars,
or other objects to the tips of the bars. For example, you can pass the
value of this property to the text
function when you
want to add text to the tips of the bars.
YEndPoints
— y-coordinates of bar tips
vector
This property is read-only.
y-coordinates of the tips of the bars, returned as a
vector. These coordinates are useful when you want to add text, error bars,
or other objects to the tips of the bars. For example, you can pass the
value of this property to the text
function when you
want to add text to the tips of the bars.
Legend
DisplayName
— Legend label
''
(default) | character vector | string scalar
Legend label, specified as a character vector or string scalar. The legend does not
display until you call the legend
command. If you do not specify
the text, then legend
sets the label using the form
'dataN'
.
Annotation
— Include object in legend
Annotation
object
Include the object in the legend, specified as an Annotation
object. Set the underlying IconDisplayStyle
property of the
Annotation
object to one of these values:
"on"
— Include the object in the legend (default)."off"
— Do not include the object in the legend.
For example, to exclude the Bar
object named
obj
from the legend, set the IconDisplayStyle
property to "off"
.
obj.Annotation.LegendInformation.IconDisplayStyle = "off";
Alternatively, you can control the items in a legend using the legend
function. Specify the first input argument as a vector of the
graphics objects to include. If you do not specify an existing graphics object in the
first input argument, then it does not appear in the legend. However, graphics objects
added to the axes after the legend is created do appear in the legend. Consider creating
the legend after creating all the plots to avoid extra items.
Interactivity
Visible
— State of visibility
"on"
(default) | on/off logical value
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.
DataTipTemplate
— Data tip content
DataTipTemplate
object
Data tip content, specified as a DataTipTemplate
object. You can
control the content that appears in a data tip by modifying the properties of the
underlying DataTipTemplate
object. For a list of properties, see
DataTipTemplate Properties.
For an example of modifying data tips, see Create Custom Data Tips.
Note
The DataTipTemplate
object is not returned by
findobj
or findall
, and it is not
copied by copyobj
.
ContextMenu
— Context menu
empty GraphicsPlaceholder
array (default) | ContextMenu
object
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.
Note
If the PickableParts
property is set to
'none'
or if the HitTest
property is set
to 'off'
, then the context menu does not appear.
Selected
— Selection state
'off'
(default) | on/off logical value
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
.
'on'
— Selected. If you click the object when in plot edit mode, then MATLAB sets itsSelected
property to'on'
. If theSelectionHighlight
property also is set to'on'
, then MATLAB displays selection handles around the object.'off'
— Not selected.
SelectionHighlight
— Display of selection handles
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
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
.
'on'
— Display selection handles when theSelected
property is set to'on'
.'off'
— Never display selection handles, even when theSelected
property is set to'on'
.
Clipping
— Clipping of object to axes limits
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
Clipping of the object 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
.
A value of
'on'
clips parts of the object that are outside the axes limits.A value of
'off'
displays the entire object, even if parts of it appear outside the axes limits. Parts of the object might appear outside the axes limits if you create a plot, sethold on
, freeze the axis scaling, and then create the object so that it is larger than the original plot.
The Clipping
property of the axes that contains the object must be set to
'on'
. Otherwise, this property has no effect. For more
information about the clipping behavior, see the Clipping
property of the
axes.
Callbacks
ButtonDownFcn
— Mouse-click callback
''
(default) | function handle | cell array | character vector
Mouse-click callback, specified as one of these values:
Function handle
Cell array containing a function handle and additional arguments
Character vector that is a valid MATLAB command or function, which is evaluated in the base workspace (not recommended)
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:
Clicked object — Access properties of the clicked object from within the callback function.
Event data — Empty argument. Replace it with the tilde character (
~
) in the function definition to indicate that this argument is not used.
For more information on how to use function handles to define callback functions, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.
Note
If the PickableParts
property is set to 'none'
or
if the HitTest
property is set to 'off'
,
then this callback does not execute.
CreateFcn
— Creation function
''
(default) | function handle | cell array | character vector
Object creation function, specified as one of these values:
Function handle.
Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.
Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.
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.
DeleteFcn
— Deletion function
''
(default) | function handle | cell array | character vector
Object deletion function, specified as one of these values:
Function handle.
Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.
Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.
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 Execution Control
Interruptible
— Callback interruption
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
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:
The running callback is the currently executing callback.
The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.
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:
If the value of
Interruptible
is'off'
, then no interruption occurs. Instead, theBusyAction
property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines if the interrupting callback is discarded or added to the callback queue.If the value of
Interruptible
is'on'
, then the interruption occurs. The next time MATLAB processes the callback queue, it stops the execution of the running callback and executes the interrupting callback. After the interrupting callback completes, MATLAB then resumes executing the running callback.
Note
Callback interruption and execution behave differently in these situations:
If the interrupting callback is a
DeleteFcn
,CloseRequestFcn
, orSizeChangedFcn
callback, then the interruption occurs regardless of theInterruptible
property value.If the running callback is currently executing the
waitfor
function, then the interruption occurs regardless of theInterruptible
property value.If the interrupting callback is owned by a
Timer
object, then the callback executes according to schedule regardless of theInterruptible
property value.
BusyAction
— Callback queuing
'queue'
(default) | 'cancel'
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 running callback is the currently executing callback.
The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.
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:
'queue'
— Puts the interrupting callback in a queue to be processed after the running callback finishes execution.'cancel'
— Does not execute the interrupting callback.
PickableParts
— Ability to capture mouse clicks
'visible'
(default) | 'none'
Ability to capture mouse clicks, specified as one of these values:
'visible'
— Capture mouse clicks when visible. TheVisible
property must be set to'on'
and you must click a part of theBar
object that has a defined color. You cannot click a part that has an associated color property set to'none'
. TheHitTest
property determines if theBar
object responds to the click or if an ancestor does.'none'
— Cannot capture mouse clicks. Clicking theBar
object passes the click to the object below it in the current view of the figure window. TheHitTest
property of theBar
object has no effect.
HitTest
— Response to captured mouse clicks
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
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
.
'on'
— Trigger theButtonDownFcn
callback of theBar
object. If you have defined theContextMenu
property, then invoke the context menu.'off'
— Trigger the callbacks for the nearest ancestor of theBar
object that meets one of these conditions:HitTest
property is set to'on'
.PickableParts
property is set to a value that enables the ancestor to capture mouse clicks.
Note
The PickableParts
property determines if
the Bar
object can capture
mouse clicks. If it cannot, then the HitTest
property
has no effect.
BeingDeleted
— Deletion status
on/off logical value
This property is read-only.
Deletion status, returned as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState
.
MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted
property to
'on'
when the DeleteFcn
callback begins
execution. The BeingDeleted
property remains set to
'on'
until the component object no longer exists.
Check the value of the BeingDeleted
property to verify that the object is not about to be deleted before querying or modifying it.
Parent/Child
Parent
— Parent
Axes
object | Group
object | Transform
object
Parent, specified as an Axes
, Group
,
or Transform
object.
Children
— Children
empty GraphicsPlaceholder
array | DataTip
object array
Children, returned as an empty GraphicsPlaceholder
array or a
DataTip
object array. Use this property to view a list of data tips
that are plotted on the chart.
You cannot add or remove children using the Children
property. To add a
child to this list, set the Parent
property of the
DataTip
object to the chart object.
HandleVisibility
— Visibility of object handle
"on"
(default) | "off"
| "callback"
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. SetHandleVisibility
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.
Identifiers
Type
— Type of graphics object
'bar'
(default)
This property is read-only.
Type of graphics object, returned as 'bar'
. Use this
property to find all objects of a given type within a plotting hierarchy,
such as searching for the type using findobj
.
Tag
— Object identifier
''
(default) | character vector | string scalar
Object identifier, specified as a character vector or string scalar. You can specify a unique Tag
value to serve as an identifier for an object. When you need access to the object elsewhere in your code, you can use the findobj
function to search for the object based on the Tag
value.
UserData
— User data
[]
(default) | array
User data, specified as any MATLAB array. For example, you can specify a scalar, vector, matrix, cell array, character array, table, or structure. Use this property to store arbitrary data on an object.
If you are working in App Designer, create public or private properties in the app to share data instead of using the UserData
property. For more information, see Share Data Within App Designer Apps.
Version History
Introduced before R2006aR2024b: Add labels to ends of bars
Add labels to the ends of bars and position them using the Labels
and LabelLocation
properties of a Bar
object. You can
also adjust aspects of the font by setting the LabelColor
, FontName
, FontSize
, FontWeight
, and
FontAngle
properties. To create the labels with LaTeX markup, set the Interpreter
property.
R2024a: Control bar group width
Control the bar group width by setting the GroupWidth
property of at least one Bar
object in
the axes.
A value of 1
uses all of the available space for each group,
but it minimizes the space between groups. Smaller values produce thinner bars with
more space between the groups.
R2023b: Opt out of automatic color selection with SeriesIndex="none"
Opt out of automatic color selection for Bar
objects by setting the
SeriesIndex
property to "none"
. When you specify
"none"
, the Bar
object has a neutral
color.
To enable automatic color selection again, set the SeriesIndex
property to a positive whole number.
R2023a: BaseValue
property no longer changes with axes limits
The BaseValue
property of a bar chart no longer depends on
the axes limits. The property value stays the same when you change axes limits or
pan within the axes.
R2020a: Control automatic color selection with the SeriesIndex
property
Control how Bar
objects vary in color by setting the
SeriesIndex
property. This property is useful when you want to
match the colors of different objects in the axes.
R2020a: UIContextMenu
property is not recommended
Setting or getting UIContextMenu
property is not recommended. Instead,
use the ContextMenu
property, which accepts the same type of input and behaves the same way as the
UIContextMenu
property.
There are no plans to remove the UIContextMenu
property, but it is no
longer listed when you call the set
, get
, or
properties
functions on the Bar
object.
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