Plotting

Matlab has excellent support for data visualization and graphics with over 70 types of plots currently available. We won't be able to go into all of them here, nor will we need to, as they all operate in very similar ways. In fact, by understanding how Matlab plotting works in general, we'll be able to see most plot types as simple variations of each other. Fundamentally, they all use the same basic constructs. Rather than explain all this in detail, we will just give some useful examples; it should be pretty clear what is going on from context.

Contents

Scatter plots for 2D Data

Here we show how to plot some random 2d data.

rand('twister',0);                               % seed the random number generator
X = 5*rand(100,1);  y = rand*X + rand(100,1);    % generate some synthetic data
f1 = figure;                                     % create a blank figure
p1 = plot(X,y,'.');                              % plot X vs y
X1 = X;

We have told Matlab to plot the data in X vs the data in y and to display a blue solid dot for each data point. There are many different types of marker and line styles available. For a complete list type doc linespec. Lets make a few changes.

clf(f1);                                         % clear the figure
p2 = plot(X,y,'o','MarkerEdgeColor','k',...      % plot larger red circles with black edges
                  'MarkerFaceColor','r',...
                  'MarkerSize',8);

Title and axis labels

We can specify the axis range and labels as follows.

axis([-1,6,-1,5]);
xlabel('x'); ylabel('y');title('this is the title');

Plotting curves

Plotting functions (curves) is very similar to the data plotting we just performed. We evaluate the function at every point along its domain and plot the resulting x,y pairs, connecting consecutive dots. Here we plot two functions on the same set of axes. The hold on command tells Matlab to superimpose all the plots onto the same figure, rather than overwriting previous plots.

f = @(x) x.^2;                  % create a function of x, namely f(x) = x.^2
g = @(x) 5*sin(x)+5;            % create a second function of x, g(x) = 5*sin(x) + 5
res = 0.001;                    % resolution of the plot
domain = -pi:res:pi;            % the domain of x, (i.e. points at which to evaluate f,g)
f2 = figure;                    % open a new figure
p3 = plot(domain,f(domain));    % plot f, w.r.t. x over its domain
hold on;                        % tell Matlab to add future plots to the same set of axes
p4 = plot(domain,g(domain));    % plot the second function.

Not bad for a first attempt but there are a lot of improvements we could make. Lets try again but this time, we will plot each function in its own color, change the line widths and types, the tick marks, the range of the axes, the background color, the font size, and add labels, a title, and a legend. We'll keep the functions and domain the same. Let us also add error bars to one of the functions denoting one standard deviation of the dependent variable.

f3 = figure('Color',[1,1,1]); hold on;             % new figure with a white background
p5 = plot(domain,f(domain),'--r','LineWidth',3);   % plot a thick dashed red line
p6 = plot(domain,g(domain),'-b','LineWidth',3);    % plot a thick solid blue line
subdomain = domain(1:400:end);                     % we will plot error bars at every 400th point
oneSTD = std(g(domain));                           % standard deviation of g(domain)
oneSTD = oneSTD*ones(size(subdomain));             % make correct size, as needed by errorbar
p7 = errorbar(subdomain,g(subdomain),oneSTD);      % plot the error bars
title('example figure','FontSize',12);             % add a title
xlabel('distance','FontSize',12);                  % label the horizontal axis
ylabel('height','FontSize',12);                    % label the vertical axis
axis([-3,3,-5,15]);                                % set the axis range
grid on;                                           % add grid lines
legend('f', 'g');

Subplots

We often want to plot multiple subfigures within a larger one. We can write subplot(nr,nc,i) to make an nr * nc plot. This command selects the i'th such subplot, numbered from left to right, top to bottom. Kevin Murphy's subplot2 function is sometime more convenient: you write subplot2(nr,nc,i,j) to select the subplot in row i, column j. Drea Thomas' suptitle function can be used to provide a title for all the plots. Below we give an example.

figure;
for i=1:6
  subplot(2,3,i);
  hist(rand(1,100),10);
  title(sprintf('subplot %d', i));
end
suptitle('master title')

Handles and Customization

Figure generation in Matlab is object oriented. Figures are top level objects and contain other objects such as axes and annotations. Axes further contain sub-objects such as plots and labels, which are often built up from smaller objects too. All of these objects have attributes that can be retrieved and, (for the most part) changed, using the get() and set() commands. The first parameter to these functions is a handle to an object. We can obtain such handles when we create the objects as in fig = figure.

After the fact, we can obtain the handle to the current figure by using the gcf() command or to the current set of axes by using the gca() command. We can see a list of all of the attributes of an object by typing get(handle) at the command prompt.

figure(f3);
get(gca)
	ActivePositionProperty = outerposition
	ALim = [0 1]
	ALimMode = auto
	AmbientLightColor = [1 1 1]
	Box = off
	CameraPosition = [0 5 17.3205]
	CameraPositionMode = auto
	CameraTarget = [0 5 0]
	CameraTargetMode = auto
	CameraUpVector = [0 1 0]
	CameraUpVectorMode = auto
	CameraViewAngle = [6.60861]
	CameraViewAngleMode = auto
	CLim = [0 1]
	CLimMode = auto
	Color = [1 1 1]
	CurrentPoint = [ (2 by 3) double array]
	ColorOrder = [ (7 by 3) double array]
	DataAspectRatio = [3 10 1]
	DataAspectRatioMode = auto
	DrawMode = normal
	FontAngle = normal
	FontName = Helvetica
	FontSize = [10]
	FontUnits = points
	FontWeight = normal
	GridLineStyle = :
	Layer = bottom
	LineStyleOrder = -
	LineWidth = [0.5]
	MinorGridLineStyle = :
	NextPlot = add
	OuterPosition = [0 0 1 1]
	PlotBoxAspectRatio = [1 1 1]
	PlotBoxAspectRatioMode = auto
	Projection = orthographic
	Position = [0.13 0.11 0.775 0.815]
	TickLength = [0.01 0.025]
	TickDir = in
	TickDirMode = auto
	TightInset = [0.0821429 0.097619 0.00892857 0.0595238]
	Title = [699.01]
	Units = normalized
	View = [0 90]
	XColor = [0 0 0]
	XDir = normal
	XGrid = on
	XLabel = [700.01]
	XAxisLocation = bottom
	XLim = [-3 3]
	XLimMode = manual
	XMinorGrid = off
	XMinorTick = off
	XScale = linear
	XTick = [-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3]
	XTickLabel = 
		-3
		-2
		-1
		0 
		1 
		2 
		3 
	XTickLabelMode = auto
	XTickMode = auto
	YColor = [0 0 0]
	YDir = normal
	YGrid = on
	YLabel = [701.01]
	YAxisLocation = left
	YLim = [-5 15]
	YLimMode = manual
	YMinorGrid = off
	YMinorTick = off
	YScale = linear
	YTick = [-5 0 5 10 15]
	YTickLabel = 
		-5
		0 
		5 
		10
		15
	YTickLabelMode = auto
	YTickMode = auto
	ZColor = [0 0 0]
	ZDir = normal
	ZGrid = on
	ZLabel = [702.01]
	ZLim = [-1 1]
	ZLimMode = auto
	ZMinorGrid = off
	ZMinorTick = off
	ZScale = linear
	ZTick = [-1 0 1]
	ZTickLabel = 
	ZTickLabelMode = auto
	ZTickMode = auto

	BeingDeleted = off
	ButtonDownFcn = 
	Children = [ (3 by 1) double array]
	Clipping = on
	CreateFcn = 
	DeleteFcn = 
	BusyAction = queue
	HandleVisibility = on
	HitTest = on
	Interruptible = on
	Parent = [4]
	Selected = off
	SelectionHighlight = on
	Tag = 
	Type = axes
	UIContextMenu = []
	UserData = []
	Visible = on

We can access specific properties using get(handle,'property')

get(gca,'xtick')
ans =
    -3    -2    -1     0     1     2     3

The command set(handle) lists not only the attributes but also valid potential values.

set(gca)
	ActivePositionProperty: [ position | {outerposition} ]
	ALim
	ALimMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	AmbientLightColor
	Box: [ on | {off} ]
	CameraPosition
	CameraPositionMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	CameraTarget
	CameraTargetMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	CameraUpVector
	CameraUpVectorMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	CameraViewAngle
	CameraViewAngleMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	CLim
	CLimMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	Color
	ColorOrder
	DataAspectRatio
	DataAspectRatioMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	DrawMode: [ {normal} | fast ]
	FontAngle: [ {normal} | italic | oblique ]
	FontName
	FontSize
	FontUnits: [ inches | centimeters | normalized | {points} | pixels ]
	FontWeight: [ light | {normal} | demi | bold ]
	GridLineStyle: [ - | -- | {:} | -. | none ]
	Layer: [ top | {bottom} ]
	LineStyleOrder
	LineWidth
	MinorGridLineStyle: [ - | -- | {:} | -. | none ]
	NextPlot: [ new | add | {replace} | replacechildren ]
	OuterPosition
	PlotBoxAspectRatio
	PlotBoxAspectRatioMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	Projection: [ {orthographic} | perspective ]
	Position
	TickLength
	TickDir: [ {in} | out ]
	TickDirMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	Title
	Units: [ inches | centimeters | {normalized} | points | pixels | characters ]
	View
	XColor
	XDir: [ {normal} | reverse ]
	XGrid: [ on | {off} ]
	XLabel
	XAxisLocation: [ top | {bottom} ]
	XLim
	XLimMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	XMinorGrid: [ on | {off} ]
	XMinorTick: [ on | {off} ]
	XScale: [ {linear} | log ]
	XTick
	XTickLabel
	XTickLabelMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	XTickMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	YColor
	YDir: [ {normal} | reverse ]
	YGrid: [ on | {off} ]
	YLabel
	YAxisLocation: [ {left} | right ]
	YLim
	YLimMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	YMinorGrid: [ on | {off} ]
	YMinorTick: [ on | {off} ]
	YScale: [ {linear} | log ]
	YTick
	YTickLabel
	YTickLabelMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	YTickMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	ZColor
	ZDir: [ {normal} | reverse ]
	ZGrid: [ on | {off} ]
	ZLabel
	ZLim
	ZLimMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	ZMinorGrid: [ on | {off} ]
	ZMinorTick: [ on | {off} ]
	ZScale: [ {linear} | log ]
	ZTick
	ZTickLabel
	ZTickLabelMode: [ {auto} | manual ]
	ZTickMode: [ {auto} | manual ]

	ButtonDownFcn: string -or- function handle -or- cell array
	Children
	Clipping: [ {on} | off ]
	CreateFcn: string -or- function handle -or- cell array
	DeleteFcn: string -or- function handle -or- cell array
	BusyAction: [ {queue} | cancel ]
	HandleVisibility: [ {on} | callback | off ]
	HitTest: [ {on} | off ]
	Interruptible: [ {on} | off ]
	Parent
	Selected: [ on | off ]
	SelectionHighlight: [ {on} | off ]
	Tag
	UIContextMenu
	UserData
	Visible: [ {on} | off ]

We can test if a variable is a valid handle or not with the ishandle() method. Figure handles are actually just integer values starting at 1 that have been registered with the root graphics object.

Below, we use the set() method to change a number of axes attributes. Multiple attributes can be changed in one command, (or in multiple commands if you prefer) and the name of the attribute always precedes its new value.

figure(f3);
set(gca,'box'      ,'on'    ...                             % draw a box around the figure
       ,'LineWidth', 2      ...                             % increase the line width
       ,'FontSize' ,12      ...                             % increase the font size
       ,'XTick'    ,[-3,0,3]...                             % only these x-ticks
       ,'YTick'    ,[0,5,10]);                              % only these y-ticks
Xequal = domain(abs(f(domain) - g(domain)) < 2*res);        % find where the two graphs meet
p8 = plot(Xequal,f(Xequal),'o','MarkerFaceColor','g'...     % plot green circles there
                              ,'MarkerEdgeColor','k'...     % black border around circles
                              ,'LineWidth'      , 2 ...     % thicken black border
                              ,'MarkerSize'     ,10);       % increase the circle size
legend([p5,p6,p8],{'f(x) = x^2','g(x) = 5*sin(x)+5','f(x) == g(x)'},'Location','NorthWest');
% Prevent close commands from closing this figure. We will use it again later.
%set(f3,'HandleVisibility','off');

As you can see, most plotting commands, such as legend() above, have many possible parameters and parameterizations. It would be redundant to go into them all here; type doc legend ,for example, to see more information on the legend command.

There are Matlab functions designed to make function plotting easier such as fplot() , ezplot() , ezsurf() , ezmesh() , ezcontour() , etc... While these can be useful for quick and dirty figures, they can make customization more difficult and so we recommend using, and learning to use, plot() instead. All of these functions take function handles as arguements and the ez*** functions auto set the axes limits for you.

The loglog() , semilogx() , and semilogy() functions are useful for plotting on logarithmic scales. However we can achieve the exact same effect by plotting with plot() and calling set(gca,'XScale','log') and/or set(gca,'YScale','log') . We can reverse the direction of an axis with set(gca,'YDir','reverse') or set(gca,'XDir','reverse') and move an axis with set(gca,'YAxisLocation','right') or set(gca,'XAxisLocation','top') . Recall that we can find the names of these properties with get(gca) or the valid values with say set(gca,'YDir') .

Tickmarks

We can change the tick marks and their labels as follows on the axes. For example,

figure(f1);
xs = linspace(min(X1), max(X1), 5);
set(gca, 'xtick', xs, 'xticklabel', {'a','b','c','d'}) % gca = get current axis

When we have long strings for the tick marks, we can use xticklabelrot, which prints them at an angle to save space.

figure(f1); xticklabelRot({'foo','bar',22,'apple','long string'}, 45)
Warning: You may need to manually reset the XLABEL vertical position 

Histograms

Histograms are one of the most useful plots for 1d data, and for probability mass functions. Below we display a histogram of a hypothetical class grade distribution.

figure;
grades = fix(normrnd(70,10,100,1));
hist(grades);                               % plot the histogram
xlabel('percent'); ylabel('count');
title('grade distribution');
set(gca,'XLim',[0,100],'YGrid','on'); % gca = get current axis
set(gca,'YMinorTick','on');

Here we organize marks into bins representing letter grades. We use the extremely quick histc() function to count the number of data points that fall between specified edges. Once we have obtained the counts, we can visualize them with the bar() function.

figure;
bins = [0,50,55,60,64,68,72,76,80,85,90,inf];                   % The bins
letters = {'F','D','C-','C','C+','B-','B','B+','A-','A','A+'};  % The labels
counts = histc(grades,bins);                                    % count grades
bar(counts(1:end-1));                                           % plot counts
set(gca,'XTickLabel',letters,'Ygrid','on');                     % set tick labels
xlabel('grade'); ylabel('count');
title('grade distribution');
set(gca,'YMinorTick','on')

Plotting 1d probability density functions

As an example of some other functions, we make a fancy plot of the Gaussian pdf in which we shade the tails using an area() plot, and add a few vertical bars using the stem() command.

figure;
domain = -4:0.01:4;
plot(domain,normpdf(domain),'-r','LineWidth',3);
hold on
% We shade two regions with the area command
L = fix(length(domain))/3;
R = 2*fix(length(domain))/3;
area(domain(1:L),normpdf(domain(1:L)));
area(domain(R:end),normpdf(domain(R:end)));
% Now add gratuitous vertical lines
stem([-0.7,0.1,0.4],normpdf([-0.7,0.1,0.4]),'LineWidth',2);
axis([-4,4,0,0.5]);
set(gca,'XMinorTick','on');
set(gca,'YMinorTick','on');

Plotting images

The imagesc() function can be used to view an image. (If you have the image processing toolbox, you can use imshow instead.)

load mandrill % built-in image
figure; imagesc(X);                         % display it
axis image                                  % window dimensions appropriate for an imag
map = colormap(gray);                       % a possible color scheme.
axis off

Heatmaps and Hinton diagrams

We can also use imagesc to make heatmaps of a 2d matrix.

figure;
rand('twister',1);
X = randn(10,10);
imagesc(X);
colorbar

Often it is preferable to use hintonDiagram (named after Geoff Hinton, who used this type of display to plot the weight matrix of a neural network), where the size of the square represents the magnitude, and the color represents the polarity (red = positive, green = negative).

figure;
hintonDiagram(X)

Saving and Printing

We can print figures and save them as any major graphics type from the file drop down menu of a figure window. Also here is the 'export setup' option which opens a window where the default figure resolution and size settings can be set. Newer versions of Matlab also let you automatically increase the line widths and font sizes of the figures you are exporting. To save or print programatically, we can use the print() function. Type doc print for more details.

%figure(gcf);
%print -djpeg test.jpg
%print(gcf, '-djpeg', 'test.jpg');  % equivalent, useful if filename is a variable

If you find that there is too much white space surrounding the exported figure, (a particular problem when exporting to pdf) try changing the figure's paper size before exporting, with the following commands.

%pos = get(gcf,'Position');
%set(gcf,'PaperSize',pos(3:4));
%set(gcf,'PaperPositionMode','auto');

Matt Dunham has written a handy function pdfcrop that automatically ensures the paper size is set equal to the figure size, so that pdf files have a tight border.

%pdfcrop(gcf);
%print(gcf, '-dpdf', 'test.pdf');

Another very useful function is exportfig which will automatically make your fonts larger, etc, before saving to a file for use in a publication.

PlaceFigures

When many figures are generated at once, they will often overlap each other. You can manually drag them around, but Matt Dunham's placeFigures function automatically places the figures on the screen for you in a way that allows you to see them all simultaneously. Simply call placeFigures after generating the figures. You can specify the layout manually with say placeFigures('nrows',2,'ncols',4) , create new blank figures with the 'newfigs' option and display figures on a second monitor with the 'monitor' option. See the function documentation for more information.

%close all
%for i=1:10
%  figure; imagesc(rand(10,10));
%end
placeFigures
ans =
     1     4     7    10
     3     2     8    11
     5     6     9    -1