colormaplist

List available colormaps

Since R2025a

Syntax

cmaps = colormaplist

Description

cmaps = colormaplist returns a list of available colormaps as an m-by-1 string array.

Examples

List Colormaps

Return a list of colormaps.

cmaps = colormaplist

cmaps = 

  21×1 string array

    "parula"
    "turbo"
    "hsv"
    "hot"
    "cool"
    "spring"
    "summer"
    "autumn"
    "winter"
    "gray"
    ...

Create Function to List RGB Triplets in Colormap

Create a function that returns the RGB triplets defined in a specific colormap.

Return a list of colormaps.

cmaps = colormaplist

cmaps = 

  21×1 string array

    "parula"
    "turbo"
    "hsv"
    "hot"
    "cool"
    "spring"
    "summer"
    "autumn"
    "winter"
    "gray"
    ...

Use str2func to define a function that returns the first n RGB triplets in the turbo colormap.

cmapFcn = str2func(cmaps(2))

cmapFcn =

  function_handle with value:

    @turbo

Use cmapFcn to list the first five RGB triplets in turbo.

cmapFcn(5)

ans =

    0.1900    0.0718    0.2322
    0.1602    0.7332    0.9252
    0.6384    0.9910    0.2365
    0.9853    0.5018    0.1324
    0.4796    0.0158    0.0106

Populate List Box with Colormaps

The plotwithcolormaps function creates an axes object and plots a surface in the axes. The function also creates a list box and uses the results from a call to colormaplist to populate the list.

function plotwithcolormaps
    f = uifigure;
    ax = axes(f,Units="pixels",Position=[180 100 500 400]);
    cmaps = colormaplist;
    uilistbox(f,Position=[750 200 120 320],Items=cmaps,...
        ValueChangedFcn=@applycmap);
    surf(ax,peaks)

    function applycmap(src,~)
        colormap(src.Parent,src.Value)
    end
end

Save and run plotwithcolormaps. Change the colormap of the graph by selecting an option from the list box.

plotwithcolormaps

Version History

Introduced in R2025a