set

Set graphics object properties

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Syntax

set(H,Name,Value)
set(H,NameArray,ValueArray)
set(H,S)
s = set(H)
values = set(H,Name)

Description

Note

Do not use the set function on Java™ objects as it will cause a memory leak. For more information, see Access Public and Private Data.

set(H,Name,Value) specifies a value for the property Name on the object identified by H. Use single quotes around the property name, for example, set(H,'Color','red'). If H is a vector of objects, then set sets the property for all the objects. If H is empty (that is, []), set does nothing, but does not return an error or warning.

set(H,NameArray,ValueArray) specifies multiple property values using the cell arrays NameArray and ValueArray. To set n property values on each of m graphics objects, specify ValueArray as an m-by-n cell array, where m = length(H) and n is equal to the number of property names contained in NameArray.

set(H,S) specifies multiple property values using S, where S is a structure whose field names are the object property names and whose field values are the corresponding property values. MATLAB® ignores empty structures.

s = set(H) returns the user-settable properties and possible values for the object identified by H. s is a structure whose field names are the object's property names and whose field values are the possible values of the corresponding properties. If you do not specify an output argument, the MATLAB software displays the information on the screen. H must be a single object.

values = set(H,Name) returns the possible values for the specified property. If the possible values are character vectors, set returns each in a cell of the cell array values. For other properties, set returns a statement indicating that Name does not have a fixed set of property values. If you do not specify an output argument, MATLAB displays the information on the screen. H must be a single object.

Note

For more information about properties you can set, see the property pages for each object, for example, Figure Properties, Axes Properties, Line Properties, Text Properties, and so on.

Examples

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Plot a line and return the chart line object as p. Set the Color property of the line to 'red'.

p = plot(1:10);
set(p,'Color','red')

Create a plot with four lines using random data and return the four chart line objects as P. Set the Color property for all of the lines to 'red'.

P = plot(rand(4));
set(P,'Color','red')

Set the value of the LineStyle property for four chart line objects each to a different value. Transpose the value of the cell array so that it has the proper shape.

P = plot(rand(4));
NameArray = {'LineStyle'};
ValueArray = {'-','--',':','-.'}';
set(P,NameArray,ValueArray)

Set the values of the Marker and Tag properties on three different stem series objects to different values. Each row of the value cell array corresponds to an object in h and contains two values, one for the Marker property and one for the Tag property.

x = 0:30;
y = [1.5*cos(x); 4*exp(-.1*x).*cos(x); exp(.05*x).*cos(x)]';
S = stem(x,y);
NameArray = {'Marker','Tag'};
ValueArray = {'o','Decaying Exponential';...
   'square','Growing Exponential';...
   '*','Steady State'};
set(S,NameArray,ValueArray)

Tips

You can use any combination of property name/property value pairs, structure arrays, and cell arrays in one call to set.

Setting Property Units

Note that if you are setting both the FontSize and the FontUnits properties in one function call, you must set the FontUnits property first so that the MATLAB software can correctly interpret the specified FontSize. The same applies to figure and axes units — always set the Units property before setting properties whose values you want to be interpreted in those units. For example,

f = figure('Units','characters','Position',[30 30 120 35]);

See Also

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Topics

Introduced before R2006a

MATLAB Documentation

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