Bar - Bar chart appearance and behavior - MATLAB (original) (raw)

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

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Control how the FaceColor property is set, specified as one of these values:

"auto" — MATLAB® controls the value of the FaceColor property by using the SeriesIndex 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 the Bar object.

If you change the value of the FaceColor property manually, MATLAB changes the value of the FaceColorMode property to"manual".

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;

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;

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 otherBar objects.

By default, the SeriesIndex property of aBar 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 sameSeriesIndex 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 theFaceColor property to a color name, RGB triplet, or a hexadecimal color code.
Different colors for one or more bars — Set theFaceColor 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 theSeriesIndex property. The mode properties,FaceColorMode andCDataMode, 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 theSeriesIndex 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 to0, which also disables automatic color selection.

Bar Labels

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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 theLabels property for each Bar object that you want labeled.

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
"end-inside"
"end-outside"

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 theLabelLocationMode property to"manual".

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 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 the hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code
"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"

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

Palette	Palette Colors
"gem" — Light theme default_Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default._
"glow" — Dark theme default

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem"); H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

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".

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.

Bar Graph Type

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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 of1 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 theirGroupWidth values. As theGroupWidth value increases, the bars become wider and the groups become harder to distinguish.

Three bar charts that are the same except for their GroupWidth values

Plotting groups of bars produces multiple Bar objects. Changing the GroupWidth property of one object changes the value for all of the objects.

Since R2024a

Control how the GroupWidth property is set, specified as one of these values:

"auto" — MATLAB selects the GroupWidth value based on the number of groups.
"manual" — You specify theGroupWidth 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.

'on' — Display bars horizontally. If you create a graph with barh, then theHorizontal property is set to'on'.
'off' — Display bars vertically. If you create the chart with bar, then theHorizontal property is set to'off'.

Data

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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 orEdgeColor 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 theCData 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];

Bar chart that has all dark blue bars except the second bar, which is cyan.

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".

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 argumentX to the bar orbarh function. If you do not specifyX, then the indices of the values inYData determine the bar locations.

XData and YData must have equal lengths.

Example: 1:10

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

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.

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

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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'.

Interactivity

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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, seeDataTipTemplate Properties.

For an example of modifying data tips, see Create Custom Data Tips.

Note

The DataTipTemplate object is not returned byfindobj or findall, and it is not copied by copyobj.

Callbacks

Callback Execution Control

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This property is read-only.

Parent/Child

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Parent, specified as an Axes, Group, or Transform object.

Identifiers

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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.

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.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

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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.

Opt out of automatic color selection for Bar objects by setting theSeriesIndex 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.

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.

Control how Bar objects vary in color by setting theSeriesIndex property. This property is useful when you want to match the colors of different objects in the axes.

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 theUIContextMenu property.

There are no plans to remove the UIContextMenu property, but it is no longer listed when you call the set, get, orproperties functions on the Bar object.

Bar - Bar chart appearance and behavior - MATLAB (original) (raw)

Bar Properties

Color and Styling

How Manual Color Assignment Overrides SeriesIndex Behavior

Bar Labels

Bar Graph Type

Data

Example

Legend

Interactivity

Callbacks

Callback Execution Control

Parent/Child

Identifiers

Version History

How Manual Color Assignment Overrides `SeriesIndex` Behavior