Identify lines in a plot by clicking on them

hi,

I have to import a bunch of .txt files (approx. 200) from a folder and create a line plot of the first vs. third column.

my code is:

input_folder = uigetdir('start_path','dialog_title');
files = dir(fullfile(input_folder, '*.txt'));
file_paths = fullfile({files.folder}, {files.name});

for i = 1 : numel(file_paths)

    data = readmatrix(file_paths{i},'Delimiter',{',','='});
    plot(data(:,1),data(:,3),'-r');

    hold on
    
end

Now I would like to be able to identify (i.e. get the corresponding file name) the lines in the plot by clicking on them. Any ideas on how to achieve such a result?

Thanks

[Star Strider]

See if the documentation on datatip (and its associated functions) applies to what you want to do.

[Gino Sartori]

I have tried to add a line of text to datatip using the dataTipTextRow function (based on this example) but cannot achieve what I want. I assume the problem comes from the fact that I loop through the .txt files containing the data.

[Walter Roberson]

It would help if you were to

[~,partname] = fileparts(file_paths{i});
plot(data(:,1), data(:,3), '-r', 'displayname', partname);

Answer 1

[Pavan Sahith]

Hello Gino,

I've noticed that you're working with multiple .txt files to create line plots and you're interested in finding a way to identify which line corresponds to which file by simply clicking on it.

If you want to identify lines in the plot by clicking on them, you can try using the “UserData” property of the plot object and a custom “data cursor” update function.

I've put together a code example that will generate a plot with lines for each of your text files. When you interact with a line on this plot, a data cursor will pop up showing the X and Y coordinates of the selected point, as well as the name of the related file.

This method uses an update function for the "data cursor mode" that fetches the file's name from the "UserData" property attached to each plotted line.

Please refer to the following MathWorks documentation to know more about

Datacursormode- https://in.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/matlab.graphics.shape.internal.datacursormanager.html

Hope this helps

[Gino Sartori]

Thanks!