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Annotation Textbox Properties - Define annotation textbox properties

Modifying Properties

You can set and query annotation object properties using the set and get functions and the Property Editor (displayed with the propertyeditor command).

Use the annotation function to create annotation objects and obtain their handles. For an example of its use, see Positioning Annotations in Data Space in the MATLAB Graphics documentation.

Annotation Textbox Property Descriptions

Properties You Can Modify

This section lists the properties you can modify on an annotation textbox object.

BackgroundColor

ColorSpec Default: none

Color of text background rectangle. A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying the rectangle background color. The default value is 'none'.

See the ColorSpec reference page for more information on specifying color.

Color

ColorSpec

Text color. A three-element RGB vector or one of the predefined names, specifying the text color. The default value is black. See ColorSpec for more information on specifying color.

EdgeColor

ColorSpec or none Default: none

Color of edge of text rectangle. A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying the color of the rectangle that encloses the text.

See the ColorSpec reference page for more information on specifying color. Setting the Color property also sets this property.

FaceAlpha

Scalar alpha value in range [0 1]

Transparency of object background. This property defines the degree to which the object's background color is transparent. A value of 1 (the default) makes to color opaque, a value of 0 makes the background completely transparent (i.e., invisible). The default FaceAlpha is 1.

FitBoxToText

on | off

Automatically adjust text box width and height to fit text. When this property is on (the default), MATLAB automatically resizes textboxes to fit the x-extents and y-extents of the text strings they contain. When it is off, text strings are wrapped to fit the width of their textboxes, which can cause them to extend below the bottom of the box.

If you resize a textbox in plot edit mode or change the width or height of its position property directly, MATLAB sets the object's FitBoxToText property to 'off'. You can toggle this property with set, with the Property Inspector, or in plot edit mode via the object's context menu.

FitHeightToText

on | off

Automatically adjust text box width and height to fit text. MATLAB automatically wraps text strings to fit the width of the text box. However, if the text string is long enough, it can extend beyond the bottom of the text box.

Note   The FitHeightToText property is obsolete. To control line wrapping behavior in textboxes, use fitBoxToText instead.

When you set this mode to on, MATLAB automatically adjusts the height of the text box to accommodate the string, doing so as you create or edit the string.

The fit-size-to-text behavior turns off if you resize the text box programmatically or manually in plot edit mode.

However, if you resize the text box from any other handles, the position you set is honored without regard to how the text fits the box.

FontAngle

{normal} | italic | oblique

Character slant. MATLAB uses this property to select a font from those available on your particular system. Generally, setting this property to italic or oblique selects a slanted font.

FontName

A name, such as Helvetica

Font family. A string specifying the name of the font to use for the text. To display and print properly, this font must be supported on your system. The default font is Helvetica.

FontSize

size in points

Approximate size of text characters. A value specifying the font size to use in points. The default size is 10 (1 point = 1/72 inch).

FontUnits

{points} | normalized | inches | centimeters | pixels

Font size units. MATLAB uses this property to determine the units used by the FontSize property. Normalized units interpret FontSize as a fraction of the height of the parent axes. When you resize the axes, MATLAB modifies the screen FontSize accordingly. pixels, inches, centimeters, and points are absolute units (1 point = 1/72 inch).

FontWeight

light | {normal} | demi | bold

Weight of text characters. MATLAB uses this property to select a font from those available on your system. Generally, setting this property to bold or demi causes MATLAB to use a bold font.

HorizontalAlignment

{left} | center | right

Horizontal alignment of text. This property specifies the horizontal justification of the text string within the textbox. It determines where MATLAB places the string horizontally with regard to the points specified by the Position property.

Interpreter

latex | {tex} | none

Interpret T_EX instructions. This property controls whether MATLAB interprets certain characters in the String property as T_EX instructions (default) or displays all characters literally. The options are:

• latex — Supports a basic subset of the L_AT_EX markup language.

• tex — Supports a subset of plain T_EX markup language. See the String property for a list of supported T_EX instructions.

• none — Displays literal characters.

LineStyle

{-} | -- | : | -. | none

Line style. This property specifies the line style of the object. Available line styles are shown in the following table.

Specifier String	Line Style
-	Solid line (default)
--	Dashed line
:	Dotted line
-.	Dash-dot line
none	No line

LineWidth

scalar

The width of linear objects and edges of filled areas. Specify this value in points (1 point = ¹/₇₂ inch). The default LineWidth is 0.5 points.

Margin

dimension in pixels default: 5

Space around text. Specify a value in pixels that defines the space around the text string, but within the rectangle.

Position

four-element vector [x, y, width, height]

Size and location of the object. Specify the lower left corner of the object with the first two elements of the vector defining the point x, y in units normalized to the figure (when Units property is normalized). The third and fourth elements specify the object's dx and dy, respectively, in units normalized to the figure.

String

string

The text string. Specify this property as a quoted string for single-line strings, or as a cell array of strings, or a padded string matrix for multiline strings. MATLAB displays this string at the specified location. Vertical slash characters are not interpreted as line breaks in text strings, and are drawn as part of the text string. See Mathematical Symbols, Greek Letters, and TeX Characters for an example.

When the text Interpreter property is set to Tex (the default), you can use a subset of TeX commands embedded in the string to produce special characters such as Greek letters and mathematical symbols. The following table lists these characters and the character sequences used to define them.

Character Sequence	Symbol	Character Sequence	Symbol	Character Sequence	Symbol
\alpha	α	\upsilon	υ	\sim	~
\beta	β	\phi	Φ	\leq	≤
\gamma	γ	\chi	χ	\infty	∞
\delta	δ	\psi	ψ	\clubsuit	♣
\epsilon	ɛ	\omega	ω	\diamondsuit	♦
\zeta	ζ	\Gamma	Γ	\heartsuit	♥
\eta	η	\Delta	Δ	\spadesuit	♠
\theta	Θ	\Theta	Θ	\leftrightarrow	↔
\vartheta	ϑ	\Lambda	Λ	\leftarrow	←
\iota	ι	\Xi	Ξ	\uparrow	↑
\kappa	κ	\Pi	Π	\rightarrow	→
\lambda	λ	\Sigma	Σ	\downarrow	↓
\mu	µ	\Upsilon	ϒ	\circ	º
\nu	ν	\Phi	Φ	\pm	±
\xi	ξ	\Psi	Ψ	\geq	≥
\pi	π	\Omega	Ω	\propto	∝
\rho	ρ	\forall	∀	\partial	∂
\sigma	σ	\exists	∃	\bullet	•
\varsigma	ς	\ni	∍	\div	÷
\tau	τ	\cong	≅	\neq	≠
\equiv	≡	\approx	≈	\aleph	ℵ
\Im	ℑ	\Re	ℜ	\wp	℘
\otimes	⊗	\oplus	⊕	\oslash	∅
\cap	∩	\cup	∪	\supseteq	⊇
\supset	⊃	\subseteq	⊆	\subset	⊂
\int	∫	\in	∈	\o	ο
\rfloor	ë	\lceil	é	\nabla	∇
\lfloor	û	\cdot	·	\ldots	...
\perp	⊥	\neg	¬	\prime	´
\wedge	∧	\times	x	\0	∅
\rceil	ù	\surd	√	\mid	|
\vee	∨	\varpi	ϖ	\copyright	©
\langle	∠	\rangle	∠

You can also specify stream modifiers that control font type and color. The first four modifiers are mutually exclusive. However, you can use \fontname in combination with one of the other modifiers:

Units

{normalized} | inches | centimeters | characters | points | pixels

position units. MATLAB uses this property to determine the units used by the Position property. All positions are measured from the lower left corner of the figure window. Normalized units interpret Position as a fraction of the width and height of the parent axes. When you resize the axes, MATLAB modifies the size of the object accordingly. pixels, inches, centimeters, and points are absolute units (1 point = 1/72 inch). Units of characters are based on the size of characters in the default system font. The width of one character unit is the width of the letter x, the height of one character unit is the distance between the baselines of two lines of text.

VerticalAlignment

top | cap | {middle} | baseline |
bottom

Vertical alignment of text. This property specifies the vertical justification of the text string within the textbox. It determines where MATLAB places the string vertically with regard to the points specified by the Position property.

Note that top and cap both place the text at the top of the box, while baseline and bottom both align the text on the bottom.

Annotation Textarrow Properties

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