fplot
Plot expression or function
Syntax
Description
fplot(
plots the
curve defined by the function f
)y = f(x)
over the
default interval [-5 5]
for x
.
fplot(___,
specifies
the line style, marker symbol, and line color. For example, LineSpec
)'-r'
plots
a red line. Use this option after any of the input argument combinations
in the previous syntaxes.
fplot(___,
specifies
line properties using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, Name,Value
)'LineWidth',2
specifies
a line width of 2 points.
fplot(
plots
into the axes specified byax
,___)ax
instead of the current
axes (gca
). Specify the axes as the first input
argument.
returns
a fp
= fplot(___)FunctionLine
object or a ParameterizedFunctionLine
object,
depending on the inputs. Use fp
to query and modify
properties of a specific line. For a list of properties, see FunctionLine Properties or ParameterizedFunctionLine Properties.
[x,y] =
fplot(___)
returns the abscissas and ordinates for
the function without creating a plot. This syntax will be removed in a future
release. Use the XData
and YData
properties of the line object, fp
, instead.
Note
fplot
no longer supports input arguments for
specifying the error tolerance or the number of evaluation points. To
specify the number of evaluation points, use the MeshDensity
property.
Examples
Plot Expression
Plot Parametric Curve
Specify Plotting Interval and Plot Piecewise Functions
Plot the piecewise function
Plot multiple lines using hold on
. Specify the plotting intervals using the second input argument of fplot
. Specify the color of the plotted lines as blue using 'b'
. When you plot multiple lines in the same axes, the axis limits adjust to incorporate all the data.
fplot(@(x) exp(x),[-3 0],'b') hold on fplot(@(x) cos(x),[0 3],'b') hold off grid on
Specify Line Properties and Display Markers
Plot three sine waves with different phases. For the first, use a line width of 2 points. For the second, specify a dashed red line style with circle markers. For the third, specify a cyan, dash-dotted line style with asterisk markers.
fplot(@(x) sin(x+pi/5),'Linewidth',2); hold on fplot(@(x) sin(x-pi/5),'--or'); fplot(@(x) sin(x),'-.*c') hold off
Modify Line Properties After Creation
Plot sin(x)
and assign the function line object to a variable.
fp = fplot(@(x) sin(x))
fp = FunctionLine with properties: Function: @(x)sin(x) Color: [0 0.4470 0.7410] LineStyle: '-' LineWidth: 0.5000 Use GET to show all properties
Change the line to a dotted red line by using dot notation to set properties. Add cross markers and set the marker color to blue.
fp.LineStyle = ':'; fp.Color = 'r'; fp.Marker = 'x'; fp.MarkerEdgeColor = 'b';
Plot Multiple Lines in Same Axes
Add Title and Axis Labels and Format Ticks
Plot from to using a function handle. Display the grid lines. Then, add a title and label the x-axis and y-axis.
fplot(@sin,[-2*pi 2*pi]) grid on title('sin(x) from -2\pi to 2\pi') xlabel('x'); ylabel('y');
Use gca
to access the current axes object. Display tick marks along the x-axis at intervals of . Format the x-axis tick values by setting the XTick
and XTickLabel
properties of the axes object. Similar properties exist for the y-axis.
ax = gca; ax.XTick = -2*pi:pi/2:2*pi; ax.XTickLabel = {'-2\pi','-3\pi/2','-\pi','-\pi/2','0',... '\pi/2','\pi','3\pi/2','2\pi'};
Input Arguments
f
— Function to plot
function handle
Function to plot, specified as a function handle to a named or anonymous function.
Specify a function of the form y = f(x)
.
The function must accept a vector input argument and return a vector
output argument of the same size. Use array operators instead of matrix
operators for the best performance. For example, use .*
(times
)
instead of * (mtimes
).
Note
Support for character vector inputs will be removed in a future release. Use function handles instead.
Example: fplot(@(x) sin(x))
plots sin(x)
over the default
interval, [-5, 5]
.
xinterval
— Interval for x
[–5 5]
(default) | two-element vector of form [xmin xmax]
Interval for x
, specified as a two-element
vector of the form [xmin xmax]
.
funx
— Parametric function for x coordinates
function handle
Parametric function for x coordinates, specified as a function handle to a named or anonymous function.
Specify a function of the form x = funx(t)
.
The function must accept a vector input argument and return a vector
output argument of the same size. Use array operators instead of matrix
operators for the best performance. For example, use .*
(times
)
instead of * (mtimes
).
Example: funx = @(t) sin(2*t);
funy
— Parametric function for y coordinates
anonymous function | function handle
Parametric function for y coordinates, specified as a function handle to a named or anonymous function.
Specify a function of the form y = funy(t)
.
The function must accept a vector input argument and return a vector
output argument of the same size. Use array operators instead of matrix
operators for the best performance. For example, use .*
(times
)
instead of * (mtimes
).
Example: funy = @(t) cos(3*t);
tinterval
— Interval for t
[-5 5]
(default) | two-element vector of form [tmin tmax]
Interval for t
, specified as a two-element
vector of the form [tmin tmax]
.
ax
— Axes object
axes object
Axes object. If you do not specify an axes object, then fplot
uses
the current axes (gca
).
LineSpec
— Line style, marker, and color
string scalar | character vector
Line style, marker, and color, specified as a string scalar or character vector containing symbols. The symbols can appear in any order. You do not need to specify all three characteristics (line style, marker, and color). For example, if you omit the line style and specify the marker, then the plot shows only the marker and no line.
Example: "--or"
is a red dashed line with circle markers.
Line Style | Description | Resulting Line |
---|---|---|
"-" | Solid line |
|
"--" | Dashed line |
|
":" | Dotted line |
|
"-." | Dash-dotted line |
|
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 |
|
Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] |
|
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] |
|
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] |
|
"cyan"
| "c" | [0 1 1] |
|
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] |
|
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] |
|
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] |
|
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] |
|
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: 'Marker','o','MarkerFaceColor','red'
The properties listed here are only a subset. For a complete list, see FunctionLine Properties or ParameterizedFunctionLine Properties.
MeshDensity
— Number of evaluation points
23 (default) | number
Number of evaluation points, specified as a number. The default
is 23
. Because fplot
uses
adaptive evaluation, the actual number of evaluation points is greater.
Color
— Line color
[0 0.4470 0.7410]
(default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r"
| "g"
| "b"
| ...
Line color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.
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" |
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: "blue"
Example: [0
0 1]
Example: "#0000FF"
LineStyle
— Line style
"-"
(default) | "--"
| ":"
| "-."
| "none"
Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.
Line Style | Description | Resulting Line |
---|---|---|
"-" | Solid line |
|
"--" | Dashed line |
|
":" | Dotted line |
|
"-." | Dash-dotted line |
|
"none" | No line | No line |
LineWidth
— Line width
0.5
(default) | positive value
Line width, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch. If the line has markers, then the line width also affects the marker edges.
The line width cannot be thinner than the width of a pixel. If you set the line width to a value that is less than the width of a pixel on your system, the line displays as one pixel wide.
Marker
— Marker symbol
"none"
(default) | "o"
| "+"
| "*"
| "."
| ...
Marker symbol, specified as one of the values listed in this table. By default, the object does not display markers. Specifying a marker symbol adds markers at each data point or vertex.
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 |
MarkerEdgeColor
— Marker outline color
"auto"
(default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r"
| "g"
| "b"
| ...
Marker outline color, specified as "auto"
, an RGB triplet, a
hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of
"auto"
uses the same color as the Color
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" |
MarkerFaceColor
— Marker fill color
"none"
(default) | "auto"
| RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r"
| "g"
| "b"
| ...
Marker fill color, specified as "auto"
, an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color
code, a color name, or a short name. The "auto"
value uses the same
color as the MarkerEdgeColor
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: [0.3 0.2 0.1]
Example: "green"
Example: "#D2F9A7"
MarkerSize
— Marker size
6
(default) | positive value
Marker size, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch.
Output Arguments
fp
— One or more FunctionLine
or ParameterizedFunctionLine
objects
scalar | vector
One or more FunctionLine
or ParameterizedFunctionLine
objects,
returned as a scalar or a vector.
If you use the
fplot(f)
syntax or a variation of this syntax, thenfplot
returnsFunctionLine
objects.If you use the
fplot(funx,funy)
syntax or a variation of this syntax, thenfplot
returnsParameterizedFunctionLine
objects.
You can use these objects to query and modify properties of a specific line. For a list of properties, see FunctionLine Properties and ParameterizedFunctionLine Properties.
Tips
Use element-wise operators for the best performance and to avoid a warning message. For example, use
x.*y
instead ofx*y
. For more information, see Array vs. Matrix Operations.When you zoom in on the chart,
fplot
replots the data, which can reveal hidden details.
Extended Capabilities
GPU Arrays
Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
The fplot
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 R2006a
See Also
Functions
Properties
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