How do I make a figure legend multiple lines?
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MathWorks Support Team
on 13 Jan 2011
Answered: Sulaymon Eshkabilov
on 18 May 2022
The string for my legend is too long to fit into one line. I would like to split it into multiple lines.
Accepted Answer
MathWorks Support Team
on 9 Jun 2020
Edited: MathWorks Support Team
on 23 Nov 2020
To split legend to multiple lines, use the "newline" function or the ASCII character 10 for new line, for example:
>> plot(sin(1:10),'b')
>> hold on
>> plot(cos(1:10),'r')
>> legend({['blue' char(10) 'line'],'red line'})
With MATLAB "strings" you can use the following notation:
>> legend({ "blue" + newline + "line", 'red line'})
or
>> legend({ strcat("blue", string(newline), "line"), 'red line' })
In addition to the MATLAB command line, the legend can also be updated interactively in the figure itself to include multi-line legend entries.
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More Answers (2)
Christoforos Kanavakis
on 23 Mar 2018
In newer versions, Matlab recommends using 'newline'.
So,
legend({['blue' newline 'line'],'red line'})
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Sulaymon Eshkabilov
on 18 May 2022
This one is a better solution that is easier to implement:
plot(sin(1:.1:10),'r', 'DisplayName', 'Cosine'), hold on
plot(cos(1:.1:10),'g', 'DisplayName', 'Sine')
plot(tan(1:.1:10),'b', 'DisplayName', 'Tangent')
plot(1./tan(1:.1:10),'k', 'DisplayName', 'Inverse Tangent'), grid on
My_LGD = legend;
My_LGD.NumColumns = 2; % Show legends in two lines
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