scatter
Scatter plot
Syntax
Description
Vector and Matrix Data
scatter(___,
fills in the
circles. Use the "filled"
)"filled"
option with any of the input
argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.
Table Data
scatter(
plots the variables tbl
,xvar
,yvar
)xvar
and yvar
from the
table tbl
. To plot one data set, specify one variable for
xvar
and one variable for yvar
. To
plot multiple data sets, specify multiple variables for xvar
,
yvar
, or both. If both arguments specify multiple
variables, they must specify the same number of variables. (Since
R2021b)
Additional Options
scatter(
plots
into the axes specified by ax
,___)ax
instead of into the current
axes. The option ax
can precede any of the input argument
combinations in the previous syntaxes.
scatter(___,
modifies the scatter plot using one or more name-value arguments to set
properties. For example:Name,Value
)
scatter(x,y,"LineWidth",2)
creates a scatter plot with 2-point marker outlines.scatter(tbl,"MyX","MyY","ColorVariable","MyColors")
creates a scatter plot from data in a table, and customizes the marker colors using data from the table.
For a full list of properties, see Scatter Properties.
returns the s
= scatter(___)Scatter
object or an array of
Scatter
objects. Use s
to set
properties after creating the plot. For a full list of properties, see Scatter Properties.
Examples
Create Scatter Plot
Create x
as 200 equally spaced values between 0 and . Create y
as cosine values with random noise. Then, create a scatter plot.
x = linspace(0,3*pi,200); y = cos(x) + rand(1,200); scatter(x,y)
Vary Circle Size
Create a scatter plot using circles with different sizes. Specify the size in points squared
x = linspace(0,3*pi,200); y = cos(x) + rand(1,200); sz = linspace(1,100,200); scatter(x,y,sz)
Corresponding elements in x
, y
, and sz
determine the location and size of each circle. To plot all circles with the equal area, specify sz
as a numeric scalar.
Vary Circle Color
Create a scatter plot and vary the circle color.
x = linspace(0,3*pi,200); y = cos(x) + rand(1,200); c = linspace(1,10,length(x)); scatter(x,y,[],c)
Corresponding elements in x
, y
, and c
determine the location and color of each circle. The scatter
function maps the elements in c
to colors in the current colormap.
Vary Color Palette
Since R2023b
Named color palettes provide a convenient way to change the colors of a chart. This example compares a scatter plot with three different color palettes.
Create a scatter plot of random numbers using the default palette.
x = rand(50,5);
y = randn(50,5) + (5:5:25);
scatter(x,y,"filled")
Change the color palette to reef
by using colororder
function.
colororder("reef")
Change the color palette to meadow
.
colororder("meadow")
Fill the Markers
Create a scatter plot and fill in the markers. scatter
fills each marker using the color of the marker edge.
x = linspace(0,3*pi,200);
y = cos(x) + rand(1,200);
sz = 25;
c = linspace(1,10,length(x));
scatter(x,y,sz,c,'filled')
Specify Marker Symbol
Create vectors x
and y
as sine and cosine values with random noise. Then, create a scatter plot and use diamond markers with an area of 140 points squared.
theta = linspace(0,2*pi,150);
x = sin(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,150);
y = cos(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,150);
sz = 140;
scatter(x,y,sz,'d')
Change Marker Color and Line Width
Create vectors x
and y
as sine and cosine values with random noise. Create a scatter plot and set the marker edge color, marker face color, and line width.
theta = linspace(0,2*pi,300); x = sin(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,300); y = cos(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,300); sz = 40; scatter(x,y,sz,'MarkerEdgeColor',[0 .5 .5],... 'MarkerFaceColor',[0 .7 .7],... 'LineWidth',1.5)
Vary Transparency Across Data Points
You can vary the transparency of scattered points by setting the AlphaData
property to a vector of different opacity values. To ensure the scatter plot uses the AlphaData
values, set the MarkerFaceAlpha
property to 'flat'
.
Create a set of normally distributed random numbers. Then create a scatter plot of the data with filled markers.
x = randn(1000,1);
y = randn(1000,1);
s = scatter(x,y,'filled');
Set the opacity of each point according to its distance from zero.
distfromzero = sqrt(x.^2 + y.^2);
s.AlphaData = distfromzero;
s.MarkerFaceAlpha = 'flat';
Plot Data from a Table
Since R2021b
A convenient way to plot data from a table is to pass the table to the scatter
function and specify the variables you want to plot. For example, read patients.xls
as a table tbl
. Plot the relationship between the Systolic
and Diastolic
variables by passing tbl
as the first argument to the scatter
function followed by the variable names. Notice that the axis labels match the variable names.
tbl = readtable('patients.xls'); scatter(tbl,'Systolic','Diastolic');
You can also plot multiple variables at the same time. For example, plot both blood pressure variables versus the Weight
variable by specifying the yvar
argument as the cell array {'Systolic','Diastolic'}
. Add a legend, and notice that the legend labels match the variable names.
scatter(tbl,'Weight',{'Systolic','Diastolic'}); legend
Plot Table Data with Custom Colors and Marker Sizes
Since R2021b
One way to plot data from a table and customize the colors and marker sizes is to set the ColorVariable
and SizeData
properties. You can set these properties as name-value arguments when you call the scatter
function, or you can set them on the Scatter
object later.
For example, read patients.xls
as a table tbl
. Plot the Height
variable versus the Weight
variable with filled markers. Vary the marker colors by specifying the ColorVariable
name-value argument. Return the Scatter
object as s
, so you can set other properties later.
tbl = readtable('patients.xls'); s = scatter(tbl,'Weight','Height','filled','ColorVariable','Diastolic');
Change the marker sizes to 100
points by setting the SizeData
property. Then add a colorbar.
s.SizeData = 100; colorbar
Specify Target Axes and Marker Type
You can display a tiling of plots using the tiledlayout
and nexttile
functions. Call the tiledlayout
function to create a 2-by-1 tiled chart layout. Call the nexttile
function to create the axes objects ax1
and ax2
. Plot scattered data into each axes. In the bottom scatter plot, specify diamond filled diamond markers.
x = linspace(0,3*pi,200); y = cos(x) + rand(1,200); tiledlayout(2,1) % Top plot ax1 = nexttile; scatter(ax1,x,y) % Bottom plot ax2 = nexttile; scatter(ax2,x,y,'filled','d')
Modify Scatter Series After Creation
Create a scatter plot and return the scatter series object, s
.
theta = linspace(0,1,500); x = exp(theta).*sin(100*theta); y = exp(theta).*cos(100*theta); s = scatter(x,y);
Use s
to query and set properties of the scatter series after it has been created. Set the line width to 0.6
point. Set the marker edge color to blue. Set the marker face color using an RGB triplet color.
s.LineWidth = 0.6;
s.MarkerEdgeColor = 'b';
s.MarkerFaceColor = [0 0.5 0.5];
Input Arguments
x
— x-coordinates
scalar | vector | matrix
x-coordinates, specified as a scalar, vector, or
matrix. The size and shape of x
depends on the shape of
your data. This table describes the most common situations.
Type of Plot | How to Specify Coordinates |
---|---|
Single point | Specify scatter(1,2) |
One set of points | Specify scatter([1 2 3],[4; 5; 6]) |
Multiple sets of points that are different colors | If all the sets share the same x- or y-coordinates, specify the shared coordinates as a vector and the other coordinates as a matrix. The length of the vector must match one of the dimensions of the matrix. For example: scatter([1 2 3],[4 5 6; 7 8 9]) scatter
plots a separate set of points for each column in
the matrix.Alternatively, specify
scatter([1 3 5; 2 4 6],[10 25 45; 20 40 60]) |
Data Types: single
| double
| int8
| int16
| int32
| int64
| uint8
| uint16
| uint32
| uint64
| categorical
| datetime
| duration
y
— y-coordinates
scalar | vector | matrix
y-coordinates, specified as a scalar, vector, or
matrix. The size and shape of y
depends on the shape of
your data. This table describes the most common situations.
Type of Plot | How to Specify Coordinates |
---|---|
Single point | Specify scatter(1,2) |
One set of points | Specify scatter([1 2 3],[4; 5; 6]) |
Multiple sets of points that are different colors | If all the sets share the same x- or y-coordinates, specify the shared coordinates as a vector and the other coordinates as a matrix. The length of the vector must match one of the dimensions of the matrix. For example: scatter([1 2 3],[4 5 6; 7 8 9]) scatter
plots a separate set of points for each column in
the matrix.Alternatively, specify
scatter([1 3 5; 2 4 6],[10 25 45; 20 40 60]) |
Data Types: single
| double
| int8
| int16
| int32
| int64
| uint8
| uint16
| uint32
| uint64
| categorical
| datetime
| duration
sz
— Marker size
36 (default) | numeric scalar | row or column vector | matrix | []
Marker size, specified as a numeric scalar, vector, matrix, or empty array
([]
). The size controls the area of each marker in
points squared. An empty array specifies the default size of 36 points. The
way you specify the size depends on how you specify x
and
y
, and how you want the plot to look. This table
describes the most common situations.
Desired Marker Sizes | x and y
| sz | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Same size for all points | Any valid combination of vectors or matrices
described for | Scalar | Specify x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 6; 3 8; 2 7; 4 9]; scatter(x,y,100) |
Different size for each point | Vectors of the same length |
| Specify x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 3 2 4]; sz = [80 150 700 50]; scatter(x,y,sz) Specify
x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 3 2 4]; sz = [80 30; 150 900; 50 2000; 200 350]; scatter(x,y,sz) |
Different size for each point | At least one of |
| Specify x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 6; 3 8; 2 7; 4 9]; sz = [80 150 50 700]; scatter(x,y,sz) Specify
x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 6; 3 8; 2 7; 4 9]; sz = [80 30; 150 900; 50 2000; 200 350]; scatter(x,y,sz) |
Data Types: single
| double
| int8
| int16
| int32
| int64
| uint8
| uint16
| uint32
| uint64
c
— Marker color
color name | RGB triplet | matrix of RGB triplets | vector of colormap indices
Marker color, specified as a color name, RGB triplet, matrix of RGB triplets, or a vector of colormap indices.
Color name — A color name such as
"red"
, or a short name such as"r"
.RGB triplet — 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]
. RGB triplets are useful for creating custom colors.Matrix of RGB triplets — A three-column matrix in which each row is an RGB triplet.
Vector of colormap indices — A vector of numeric values that is the same length as the
x
andy
vectors.
The way you specify the color depends on the desired color scheme and whether you are plotting one set of coordinates or multiple sets of coordinates. This table describes the most common situations.
Color Scheme | How to Specify the Color | Example |
---|---|---|
Use one color for all the points. | Specify a color name or a short name from the table below, or specify one RGB triplet. | Plot one set of points, and specify the color
as scatter(1:4,[2 5 3 7],[],"red") Plot two sets of points, and specify the color as red using an RGB triplet. scatter(1:4,[2 5; 1 2; 8 4; 11 9],[],[1 0 0]) |
Assign different colors to each point using a colormap. | Specify a row or column vector of numbers. The numbers map into the current colormap array. The smallest value maps to the first row in the colormap, and the largest value maps to the last row. The intermediate values map linearly to the intermediate rows. If your plot has three points, specify a column vector to ensure the values are interpreted as colormap indices. You can use this method only
when | Create a vector c = 1:4;
scatter(1:4,[2 5 3 7],[],c)
colormap(gca,"winter") |
Create a custom color for each point. | Specify an m-by-3 matrix of RGB triplets, where m is the number of points in the plot. You can use this method only when
| Create a matrix c = [0 1 0; 1 0 0; 0.5 0.5 0.5; 0.6 0 1]; scatter(1:4,[2 5 3 7],[],c) |
Create a different color for each data set. | Specify an n-by-3 matrix of RGB triplets, where n is the number of data sets. You can
use this method only when at least one of
| Create a matrix c = [1 0 0; 0.6 0 1]; s = scatter(1:4,[2 5; 1 2; 8 4; 11 9],[],c) |
Color Names and RGB Triplets for Common Colors
Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"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" |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB® uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
mkr
— Marker symbol
"o"
(default) | "+"
| "*"
| "."
| "x"
| ...
Marker symbol, specified as one of the values 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 |
|
"filled"
— Option to fill interior of markers
"filled"
Option to fill the interior of the markers, specified as
"filled"
. Use this option with markers that have a
face, for example, "o"
or "square"
.
Markers that do not have a face and contain only edges do not draw
("+"
, "*"
, "."
,
and "x"
).
The "filled"
option sets the
MarkerFaceColor
property of the Scatter
object to "flat"
and
the MarkerEdgeColor
property to
"none"
, so the marker faces draw, but the edges do
not.
tbl
— Source table
table | timetable
Source table containing the data to plot, specified as a table or a timetable.
xvar
— Table variables containing x-coordinates
one or more table variable indices
Table variables containing the x-coordinates, specified as one or more table variable indices.
Specifying Table Indices
Use any of the following indexing schemes to specify the desired variable or variables.
Indexing Scheme | Examples |
---|---|
Variable names:
|
|
Variable index:
|
|
Variable type:
|
|
Plotting Your Data
The table variables you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values.
To plot one data set, specify one variable for xvar
, and one variable for
yvar
. For example, read Patients.xls
into the
table tbl
. Plot the Diastolic
variable versus the
Weight
variable.
tbl = readtable("Patients.xls"); scatter(tbl,"Weight","Diastolic")
To plot multiple data sets together, specify multiple variables for xvar
,
yvar
, or both. If you specify multiple variables for both arguments,
the number of variables must be the same.
For example, plot the Systolic
and Diastolic
variables against the Weight
variable.
scatter(tbl,"Weight",["Systolic","Diastolic"])
You can use different indexing schemes for xvar
and
yvar
. For example, specify xvar
as a variable name and
yvar
as an index
number.
scatter(tbl,"Weight",9)
yvar
— Table variables containing y-coordinates
one or more table variable indices
Table variables containing the y-coordinates, specified as one or more table variable indices.
Specifying Table Indices
Use any of the following indexing schemes to specify the desired variable or variables.
Indexing Scheme | Examples |
---|---|
Variable names:
|
|
Variable index:
|
|
Variable type:
|
|
Plotting Your Data
The table variables you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values.
To plot one data set, specify one variable for xvar
, and one variable for
yvar
. For example, read Patients.xls
into the
table tbl
. Plot the Diastolic
variable versus the
Weight
variable.
tbl = readtable("Patients.xls"); scatter(tbl,"Weight","Diastolic")
To plot multiple data sets together, specify multiple variables for xvar
,
yvar
, or both. If you specify multiple variables for both arguments,
the number of variables must be the same.
For example, plot the Systolic
and Diastolic
variables against the Weight
variable.
scatter(tbl,"Weight",["Systolic","Diastolic"])
You can use different indexing schemes for xvar
and
yvar
. For example, specify xvar
as a variable name and
yvar
as an index
number.
scatter(tbl,"Weight",9)
ax
— Target axes
Axes
object | PolarAxes
object | GeographicAxes
object
Target axes, specified as an Axes
object, a
PolarAxes
object, or a
GeographicAxes
object. If you do not specify the axes
and the current axes object is Cartesian, then the
scatter
function plots into the current axes.
A convenient way to create scatter plots in polar or geographic
coordinates is to use the polarscatter
or geoscatter
functions.
Name-Value Arguments
Specify optional pairs of arguments as
Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN
, where Name
is
the argument name and Value
is the corresponding value.
Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the
pairs does not matter.
Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose
Name
in quotes.
Example: "MarkerFaceColor","red"
sets the marker face color to
red.
The Scatter
object properties listed here are
only a subset. For a complete list, see Scatter Properties.
MarkerEdgeColor
— Marker outline color
"flat"
(default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r"
| "g"
| "b"
| ...
Marker outline color, specified "flat"
, an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color
code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of "flat"
uses
colors from the CData
property.
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 from0
toF
. 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 hexadecimal color codes.
Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"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" | |
"none" | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | No color |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
Example: [0.5 0.5 0.5]
Example: "blue"
Example: "#D2F9A7"
MarkerFaceColor
— Marker fill color
"none"
(default) | "flat"
| "auto"
| RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r"
| "g"
| "b"
| ...
Marker fill color, specified as "flat"
, "auto"
, an RGB
triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The
"flat"
option uses the CData
values. The
"auto"
option uses the same color as the
Color
property for the axes.
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 from0
toF
. 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 hexadecimal color codes.
Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"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" | |
"none" | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | No color |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
Example: [0.3 0.2 0.1]
Example: "green"
Example: "#D2F9A7"
LineWidth
— Width of marker edge
0.5
(default) | positive value
Width of marker edge, specified as a positive value in point units.
Example: 0.75
ColorVariable
— Table variable containing color data
table variable index
Table variable containing the color data, specified as a variable index into the source table.
Specifying the Table Index
Use any of the following indexing schemes to specify the desired variable.
Indexing Scheme | Examples |
---|---|
Variable name:
|
|
Variable index:
|
|
Variable type:
|
|
Specifying Color Data
Specifying the ColorVariable
property controls the colors of the markers.
The data in the variable controls the marker fill color when the
MarkerFaceColor
property is set to
"flat"
. The data can also control the marker outline color,
when the MarkerEdgeColor
is set to
"flat"
.
The table variable you specify can contain values of any numeric type. The values can be in either of the following forms:
A column of numbers that linearly map into the current colormap.
A three-column array of RGB triplets. RGB triplets are three-element vectors whose values specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of specific colors. The intensities must be in the range
[0,1]
. For example,[0.5 0.7 1]
specifies a shade of light blue.
When you set the ColorVariable
property, MATLAB updates the CData
property.
Output Arguments
s
— Scatter
object
Scatter
object | array of Scatter
objects
Scatter
object or an array of Scatter
objects. Use s
to modify
properties of a scatter chart after creating it.
Extended Capabilities
Tall Arrays
Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.
The
scatter
function supports tall arrays with the following usage
notes and limitations:
Supported syntaxes for tall arrays
X
andY
are:scatter(X,Y)
scatter(X,Y,sz)
scatter(X,Y,sz,c)
scatter(___,"filled")
scatter(___,mkr)
scatter(___,Name,Value)
scatter(ax,___)
sz
must be scalar or empty[]
.c
must be scalar or an RGB triplet.Categorical inputs are not supported.
With tall arrays, the
scatter
function plots in iterations, progressively adding to the plot as more data is read. During the updates, a progress indicator shows the proportion of data that has been plotted. Zooming and panning is supported during the updating process, before the plot is complete. To stop the update process, press the pause button in the progress indicator.
For more information, see Visualization of Tall Arrays.
GPU Arrays
Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
The scatter
function
supports GPU array input with these usage notes and limitations:
This function accepts GPU arrays, but does not run on a GPU.
For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).
Distributed Arrays
Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
Usage notes and limitations:
This function operates on distributed arrays, but executes in the client MATLAB.
For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).
Version History
Introduced before R2006aR2022b: Plots created with tables preserve special characters in axis and legend labels
When you pass a table and one or more variable names to the scatter
function, the axis and legend labels now display any special characters that are included in the table variable names, such as underscores. Previously, special characters were interpreted as TeX or LaTeX characters.
For example, if you pass a table containing a variable named Sample_Number
to the scatter
function, the underscore appears in the axis and
legend labels. In R2022a and earlier releases, the underscores are interpreted as
subscripts.
Release | Label for Table Variable "Sample_Number" |
---|---|
R2022b |
|
R2022a |
|
To display axis and legend labels with TeX or LaTeX formatting, specify the labels manually.
For example, after plotting, call the xlabel
or
legend
function with the desired label strings.
xlabel("Sample_Number") legend(["Sample_Number" "Another_Legend_Label"])
R2021b: Pass tables directly to scatter
Create plots by passing a table to the scatter
function followed by the variables you want to plot. When you specify your data as a table, the axis labels and the legend (if present) are automatically labeled using the table variable names.
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