access to default line colors

Is there a way to easily specify a line color from the (relatively) new default line color ordering? What I'd like is to be able to replace the command

>> plot(x,y,'b-o')

with something that gives the new default blue that's different from 'b'.

If not, and I assume not, then let me make this a feature request. Can you make the command

>> plot(x,y,'1-o')

plot a line with the first color in the default ordering, etc?

This would be useful if I plot a line using 'plot(x,y)' and somewhere down the line want to add another line to the plot that is the same color.

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

You can specify the color of a line not only via a LineSpec but also via specifying the line's 'Color' property in the plot call.

ax = axes;
hold on
for k = 1:20
  h = plot(1:10, 1:10, '-o', ...
      'Color', ax.ColorOrder(ax.ColorOrderIndex, :));
  pause(0.5)
end

This will plot a new line 20 times with half a second pause between each plot, each time using the next color in the ColorOrder property of the axes.

Answer 2

[Chad Greene]

You can define any colors col and do

col = jet(5); 
set(gca,'colororder',col)

[Chad Greene]

Or to make it a new default for all figures,

set(groot,'defaultAxesColorOrder',col)

[Roy Goodman]

Thanks, but maybe I wasn't clear enough. I know how to use 'linecolor' and to grab the colors from the default ordering as ordered triples. What I would like is a way to use syntax similar simple 'b' for 'blue' specifications with the new colors.

As I said, I think this is most likely not possible, and this question is in practice a feature request.

[Chad Greene]

Oh, I see what you mean. I realize this is not the solution you're seeking, but I think I'd write a new function called myplot that would parse the inputs and then call plot.