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grid

Display or hide axes grid lines

Description

example

grid on displays the major grid lines for the current axes returned by the gca command. Major grid lines extend from each tick mark.

example

grid off removes all grid lines from the current axes or chart.

grid toggles the visibility of the major grid lines.

example

grid minor toggles the visibility of the minor grid lines. Minor grid lines lie between the tick marks. Not all types of charts support minor grid lines.

example

grid(target,___) uses the axes or standalone visualization specified by target instead of the current axes. Specify target as the first input argument. Use single quotes around other input arguments, for example, grid(target,'on').

Examples

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Display the grid lines for a sine plot.

x = linspace(0,10);
y = sin(x);
plot(x,y)
grid on

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

Create a surface plot and remove the grid lines.

[X,Y,Z] = peaks; 
surf(X,Y,Z)
grid off

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

Display the major and minor grid lines for a sine plot.

x = linspace(0,10);
y = sin(x);
plot(x,y)
grid on
grid minor

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

Starting in R2019b, you can display a tiling of plots using the tiledlayout and nexttile functions. Call the tiledlayout function to create a 2-by-1 tiled chart layout. Call the nexttile function to create the axes objects ax1 and ax2. Plot data into each axes. Then display grid lines in the bottom plot by passing ax2 to the grid function.

x = linspace(0,10);
y1 = sin(x);
y2 = sin(3*x);
tiledlayout(2,1)

% Top plot
ax1 = nexttile;
plot(ax1,x,y1)

% Bottom plot
ax2 = nexttile;
plot(ax2,x,y2)
grid(ax2,'on')

Figure contains 2 axes objects. Axes object 1 contains an object of type line. Axes object 2 contains an object of type line.

Input Arguments

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Target object, specified as one of the following:

  • Any type of axes object: an Axes, PolarAxes, or GeographicAxes object.

  • A standalone visualization that has a GridVisible property. For example, a heatmap chart has a GridVisible property.

  • An array of axes or standalone visualizations that belong to the same class. To determine the class, use the class function.

If you do not specify the target, then the grid function affects the graphics object returned by the gca command.

Tips

  • When working with Cartesian axes, some axes properties affect the appearance of the grid lines. This table lists a subset of axes properties related to the grid lines.

    Axes PropertyDescription
    XTick, YTick, ZTickLocation of tick marks and major grid lines for each axis direction
    XGrid, YGrid, ZGridDisplay of major grid lines for each axis direction
    XMinorGrid, YMinorGrid, ZMinorGridDisplay of minor grid lines for each axis direction
    LineWidthLine width of grid lines, axes box outline, and tick marks
    GridLineStyleMajor grid line style
    MinorGridLineStyleMinor grid line style
    GridColorMajor grid line color
    MinorGridColorMinor grid line color
    GridAlphaMajor grid line transparency
    MinorGridAlphaMinor grid line transparency
    LayerLocation of grid lines in relation to the plotted data

  • When working with polar axes, some polar axes properties affect the appearance of the grid lines. This table lists a subset of polar axes properties related to the grid lines.

    PolarAxes PropertyDescription
    ThetaTick, RTickLocation of tick marks and major grid lines for each axis direction
    ThetaGrid, RGridDisplay of major grid lines for each axis direction
    ThetaMinorGrid, RMinorGridDisplay of minor grid lines for each axis direction
    LineWidthWidth of outline, tick marks, and grid lines
    GridLineStyleMajor grid line style
    MinorGridLineStyleMinor grid line style
    GridColorMajor grid line color
    MinorGridColorMinor grid line color
    GridAlphaMajor grid line transparency
    MinorGridAlphaMinor grid line transparency
    LayerLocation of grid lines in relation to the plotted data

  • When working with geographic axes, some geographic axes properties affect the appearance of the grid lines. This table lists a subset of geographic axes properties related to the grid lines. Note that GeographicAxes objects do not support minor grid lines.

    GeographicAxes PropertyDescription
    GridDisplay of latitude and longitude grid lines
    LineWidthLine width of grid lines, box outline, and tick marks
    GridLineStyleGrid line style
    GridColorColor of grid lines
    GridAlphaGrid line transparency

Algorithms

The grid function sets these graphics object properties to either 'on' or 'off':

  • XGrid, YGrid, and ZGrid when working with Cartesian Axes objects.

  • ThetaGrid and RGrid when working with PolarAxes objects.

  • Grid when working with GeographicAxes objects.

  • GridVisible when working with other types of graphics objects, such as a HeatmapChart object.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a