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

Scatter Properties

Scatter chart appearance and behavior

Scatter properties control the appearance and behavior of Scatter object. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the scatter chart. Use dot notation to query and set properties.

s = scatter(1:10,1:10); m = s.Marker; s.Marker = '*';

Markers

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Marker symbol, specified as one of the options listed in this table:

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
"o"	Circle
"+"	Plus sign
"*"	Asterisk
"."	Point
"x"	Cross
"_"	Horizontal line
"\|"	Vertical line
"square"	Square
"diamond"	Diamond
"^"	Upward-pointing triangle
"v"	Downward-pointing triangle
">"	Right-pointing triangle
"<"	Left-pointing triangle
"pentagram"	Pentagram
"hexagram"	Hexagram
"none"	No markers	Not applicable

Marker edge transparency, specified as a scalar in the range [0,1] or 'flat'. A value of 1 is opaque and 0 is completely transparent. Values between 0 and 1 are semitransparent.

To set the edge transparency to a different value for each point in the plot, set theAlphaData property to a vector the same size as theXData property, and set theMarkerEdgeAlpha property to 'flat'.

Marker face transparency, specified as a scalar in the range[0,1] or 'flat'. A value of 1 is opaque and 0 is completely transparent. Values between 0 and 1 are semitransparent.

To set the marker face transparency to a different value for each point in the plot, set the AlphaData property to a vector the same size as the XData property, and set theMarkerFaceAlpha property to'flat'.

Transparency data for each plotted point, specified as an array the same size as theXData property. After specifying the values, set theMarkerFaceAlpha and MarkerEdgeAlpha properties to control the type of transparency. If theMarkerFaceAlpha and MarkerEdgeAlpha properties are both set to scalar values, then the Scatter object does not use the AlphaData values.

The AlphaDataMapping property determines how theScatter object interprets the AlphaData property values.

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

'auto' — MATLAB® controls the value of the AlphaData property. The value can be:
- The default value of the AlphaData property.
- The values in a table variable. TheSourceTable property specifies the table, and the AlphaVariable property specifies the variable. If either the SourceTable orAlphaVariable properties are empty, the default AlphaData value is used.
'manual' — The AlphaData property is set directly and does not update automatically.

Color and Size Data

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Marker colors, specified as one of these values:

RGB triplet — Use the same color for all the markers in the plot. 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, [0.5 0.6 0.7].
Three-column matrix of RGB triplets — Use a different color for each marker in the plot. Each row of the matrix defines one color. The number of rows must equal the number of markers.
Vector — Use a different color for each marker in the plot. Specify CData as a vector the same length as XData. Linearly map the values in the vector to the colors in the current colormap.

Example: [1 0 0; 0 1 0; 0 0 1]

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

'auto' — MATLAB controls the value of the CData property. The value can be:
- One of the colors from the ColorOrder property of the axes. MATLAB uses the SeriesIndex property of theScatter object and the ColorOrder property of the axes to select a color. This is the default behavior.
- The values in a table variable. TheSourceTable property specifies the table, and the ColorVariable property specifies the variable. If either of these properties are empty, then the color data comes from the ColorOrder property of the axes.
'manual' — You control the value of the CData property manually, either by specifying a color when you call a plotting function or by setting theCData property on theScatter object after plotting.

Variable linked to CData, specified as a character vector or string containing a MATLAB workspace variable. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate theCData.

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 CData 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.

Series index, specified as a positive whole number or "none". This property is useful for reassigning the marker colors of Scatter objects so that they match the colors of other objects. By default, theSeriesIndex property is a number that corresponds to the object's order of creation, starting at 1.

MATLAB uses the number to calculate indices for assigning colors when you call plotting functions. The indices refer to the rows of the arrays stored in theColorOrder property of the axes. The marker colors change when you change the Scatter object's SeriesIndex value, or when you change ColorOrder property of the axes.

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 fill color of the markers, use either of these approaches:

One color for all markers — Set theMarkerFaceColor property to a color name, RGB triplet, or a hexadecimal color code.
Different colors for all the markers — Set theMarkerFaceColor property to"flat". Then set the CData property to an RGB triplet, matrix of RGB triplets, or a vector of colormap indices.

Manually controlling the edge colors of the markers works the same way, except that you set MarkerEdgeColor property to a color value or"flat".

When you manually set the color of an object, MATLAB disables automatic color selection for that object and allows your color to persist, regardless of the value of the SeriesIndex property. The CDataMode property indicates whether theCData colors have been set manually (by you) or automatically. A value of "manual" indicates manual selection, and a value of "auto" indicates automatic selection.

Automatic color selection is disabled when you perform either of these actions:

Set the MarkerFaceColor orMarkerEdgeColor to a value other than"flat".
Set the CData to a color value manually.

To enable automatic selection again, set the MarkerFaceColor,MarkerEdgeColor, or both properties to"flat". Set the CDataMode property to"auto", and set the SeriesIndex property to a positive whole number.

In some cases, MATLAB sets the SeriesIndex value to0, which also disables automatic color selection.

Marker sizes, specified in one of these forms:

Scalar — Use the same size for all of the markers.
Vector — Use a different size for each marker. SpecifySizeData as a vector the same length asXData.

Specify the values in point units, where one point equals 1/72 inch. To specify a marker that has an area of one square inch, use a value of 72^2.

Example: 50

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

'auto' — MATLAB controls the value of theSizeData property. The value can be:
- The default value of the SizeData property.
- The values in a table variable. TheSourceTable property specifies the table, and the SizeVariable property specifies the variable. If either theSourceTable orSizeVariable properties are empty, the default SizeData value is used.
'manual' — You set theSizeData property directly; it does not change.

Variable linked to SizeData, specified as a character vector or string containing a MATLAB workspace variable. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate theSizeData.

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 SizeData values. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

Cartesian Coordinate Data

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x values, specified as a scalar or a vector. The scatter plot displays an individual marker for each value inXData.

The input argument x to the plotting function sets the_x_ values. XData andYData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1 2 4 2 6]

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

'auto' — The XData property updates automatically based on theSourceTable andXVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to any of the Cartesian scatter plotting functions (such as scatter orscatter3).
'manual' — The XData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to any of the Cartesian scatter plotting functions.

y values, specified as a scalar or a vector. The scatter plot displays an individual marker for each value inYData.

The input argument y to the plotting function sets the_y_ values. XData andYData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1 3 3 4 6]

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

'auto' — The YData property updates automatically based on theSourceTable andYVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to any of the Cartesian scatter plotting functions (such as scatter orscatter3).
'manual' — The YData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to any of the Cartesian scatter plotting functions.

z values, specified as a scalar or a vector.

For 2-D scatter plots, ZData is empty by default.
For 3-D scatter plots, the input argument z to the plotting function sets the z values.XData, YData, andZData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1 2 2 1 0]

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

'auto' — The ZData property updates automatically based on theSourceTable andZVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to any of the Cartesian scatter plotting functions (such as scatter orscatter3).
'manual' — The ZData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to any of the Cartesian scatter plotting functions.

Type of jitter (spacing of points) along the _x_-dimension, specified as one of the following values:

'none' — Do not jitter the points.
'density' — Jitter the points using the kernel density estimate of y for 2-D charts. If you specify this option in two dimensions for a 3-D chart, the points are jittered based on the kernel density estimate in the third dimension. For example, settingXJitter and YJitter to'density' uses the kernel density estimate of_z_.
'rand' — Jitter the points randomly with a uniform distribution.
'randn' — Jitter points randomly with a normal distribution.

Maximum amount of jitter (offset between points) along the _x_-dimension, specified as a nonnegative scalar value in data units.

For example, to set the jitter width to 90% of the shortest distance between adjacent points, take the minimum distance between unique values of x and scale by0.9.

XJitterWidth = 0.9 * min(diff(unique(x)));

Since R2025a

Direction of jitter along the _x_-dimension, specified as one of these values:

"positive" — Jitter the points in the positive_x_ direction.
"negative" — Jitter the points in the negative_x_ direction.
"both" — Jitter the points in both directions of_x_.

Type of jitter (spacing of points) along the _y_-dimension, specified as one of the following values:

'none' — Do not jitter the points.
'density' — Jitter the points using the kernel density estimate of x for 2-D charts. If you specify this option in two dimensions for a 3-D chart, the points are jittered based on the kernel density estimate in the third dimension. For example, settingXJitter and YJitter to'density' uses the kernel density estimate of_z_.
'rand' — Jitter the points randomly with a uniform distribution.
'randn' — Jitter points randomly with a normal distribution.

Maximum amount of jitter (offset between points) along the_y_-dimension, specified as a nonnegative scalar value in data units.

For example, to set the jitter width to 90% of the shortest distance between adjacent points, take the minimum distance between unique values of y and scale by0.9.

YJitterWidth = 0.9 * min(diff(unique(y)));

Since R2025a

Direction of jitter along the _y_-dimension, specified as one of these values:

"positive" — Jitter the points in the positive_y_ direction.
"negative" — Jitter the points in the negative_y_ direction.
"both" — Jitter the points in both directions of_y_.

Type of jitter (spacing of points) along the _z_-dimension, specified as one of the following values:

'none' — Do not jitter the points.
'density' —Jitter the points using the kernel density estimate of y. Or, if you specify this option in one additional dimension, the points are jittered based on the kernel density estimate in the third dimension. For example, settingYJitter and ZJitter to'density' uses the kernel density estimate of_x_.
'rand' — Jitter the points randomly with a uniform distribution.
'randn' — Jitter points randomly with a normal distribution.

Maximum amount of jitter (offset between points) along the _z_-dimension in data units, specified as a nonnegative scalar value.

For example, to set the jitter width to 90% of the shortest distance between adjacent points, take the minimum distance between unique values ofz and scale by0.9.

ZJitterWidth = 0.9 * min(diff(unique(z)));

Since R2025a

Direction of jitter along the _z_-dimension, specified as one of these values:

"positive" — Jitter the points in the positive_z_ direction.
"negative" — Jitter the points in the negative_z_ direction.
"both" — Jitter the points in both directions of_z_.

Polar Coordinate Data

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Radius values, specified as a vector. ThetaData andRData must be vectors of equal length.

This property applies only to polar axes.

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

'auto' — The RData property updates automatically based on theSourceTable andRVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to the polarscatter or scatter functions.
'manual' — The RData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to the polarscatter orscatter functions.

Variable linked to RData, specified as a character vector or string containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate theRData.

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 RData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

This property applies only to polar axes.

Angle values, specified as a vector. ThetaData andRData must be vectors of equal length.

This property applies only to polar axes.

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

'auto' — The ThetaData property updates automatically based on theSourceTable andThetaVariable properties. This is the case when you pass a table to thepolarscatter orscatter functions.
'manual' — TheThetaData property is set directly and does not update automatically. This is the case when you pass coordinate values as vectors or matrices to thepolarscatter orscatter functions.

Variable linked to ThetaData, specified as a character vector or string containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate theRData.

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 ThetaData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

This property applies only to polar axes.

Geographic Coordinate Data

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Latitude values, specified as a vector. LatitudeData and LongitudeData must be vectors of equal length.