scatter

Scatter plot

• 

Syntax

scatter(x,y)

scatter(x,y,sz)

scatter(x,y,sz,c)

scatter(___,'filled')

scatter(___,mkr)

scatter(___,Name,Value)

scatter(ax,___)

s = scatter(___)

Description

scatter(x,y) creates a scatter plot with circular markers at the locations specified by the vectors x and y. This type of graph is also known as a bubble plot.

• To plot one set of coordinates, specify x and y as vectors of equal length.

• To plot multiple sets of coordinates on the same set of axes, specify at least one of x or y as a matrix.

scatter(x,y,sz) specifies the circle sizes. To use the same size for all the circles, specify sz as a scalar. To plot each circle with a different size, specify sz as a vector or a matrix.

scatter(x,y,sz,c) specifies the circle colors. You can specify one color for all the circles, or you can vary the color. For example, you can plot all red circles by specifying c as 'red'.

scatter(___,'filled') fills in the circles. Use the 'filled' option with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

scatter(___,mkr) specifies the marker type.

scatter(___,Name,Value) modifies the scatter chart using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, 'LineWidth',2 sets the marker outline width to 2 points.

scatter(ax,___) plots into the axes specified by ax instead of into the current axes. The option ax can precede any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

s = scatter(___) returns the Scatter object or an array of Scatter objects. Use s to modify a scatter chart after creating it.

Examples

Create Scatter Plot

Create x as 200 equally spaced values between 0 and $$3\pi$$. Create y as cosine values with random noise. Then, create a scatter plot.

x = linspace(0,3*pi,200);
y = cos(x) + rand(1,200);  
scatter(x,y)

Vary Circle Size

Create a scatter plot using circles with different sizes. Specify the size in points squared

x = linspace(0,3*pi,200);
y = cos(x) + rand(1,200);
sz = linspace(1,100,200);
scatter(x,y,sz)

Corresponding elements in x, y, and sz determine the location and size of each circle. To plot all circles with the equal area, specify sz as a numeric scalar.

Vary Circle Color

Create a scatter plot and vary the circle color.

x = linspace(0,3*pi,200);
y = cos(x) + rand(1,200);
c = linspace(1,10,length(x));
scatter(x,y,[],c)

Corresponding elements in x, y, and c determine the location and color of each circle. The scatter function maps the elements in c to colors in the current colormap.

Fill the Markers

Create a scatter plot and fill in the markers. scatter fills each marker using the color of the marker edge.

x = linspace(0,3*pi,200);
y = cos(x) + rand(1,200);
sz = 25;
c = linspace(1,10,length(x));
scatter(x,y,sz,c,'filled')

Specify Marker Symbol

Create vectors x and y as sine and cosine values with random noise. Then, create a scatter plot and use diamond markers with an area of 140 points squared.

theta = linspace(0,2*pi,150);
x = sin(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,150);
y = cos(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,150);  
sz = 140;
scatter(x,y,sz,'d')

Change Marker Color and Line Width

Create vectors x and y as sine and cosine values with random noise. Create a scatter plot and set the marker edge color, marker face color, and line width.

theta = linspace(0,2*pi,300);
x = sin(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,300);
y = cos(theta) + 0.75*rand(1,300);  
sz = 40;
scatter(x,y,sz,'MarkerEdgeColor',[0 .5 .5],...
              'MarkerFaceColor',[0 .7 .7],...
              'LineWidth',1.5)

Vary Transparency Across Data Points

You can vary the transparency of scattered points by setting the AlphaData property to a vector of different opacity values. To ensure the scatter plot uses the AlphaData values, set the MarkerFaceAlpha property to 'flat'.

Create a set of normally distributed random numbers. Then create a scatter plot of the data with filled markers.

x = randn(1000,1);
y = randn(1000,1);
s = scatter(x,y,'filled');

Set the opacity of each point according to its distance from zero.

distfromzero = sqrt(x.^2 + y.^2);
s.AlphaData = distfromzero;
s.MarkerFaceAlpha = 'flat';

Specify Target Axes and Marker Type

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 scattered data into each axes. In the bottom scatter plot, specify diamond filled diamond markers.

x = linspace(0,3*pi,200);
y = cos(x) + rand(1,200);
tiledlayout(2,1)

% Top plot
ax1 = nexttile;
scatter(ax1,x,y)

% Bottom plot
ax2 = nexttile;
scatter(ax2,x,y,'filled','d')

Modify Scatter Series After Creation

Create a scatter plot and return the scatter series object, s.

theta = linspace(0,1,500);
x = exp(theta).*sin(100*theta);
y = exp(theta).*cos(100*theta);
s = scatter(x,y);

Use s to query and set properties of the scatter series after it has been created. Set the line width to 0.6 point. Set the marker edge color to blue. Set the marker face color using an RGB triplet color.

s.LineWidth = 0.6;
s.MarkerEdgeColor = 'b';
s.MarkerFaceColor = [0 0.5 0.5];

Input Arguments

x — x-coordinates

scalar | vector | matrix

x-coordinates, specified as a scalar, vector, or matrix. The size and shape of x depends on the shape of your data. This table describes the most common situations.

Type of Plot	How to Specify Coordinates
Single point	Specify x and y as scalars. For example: scatter(1,2)
One set of points	Specify x and y as any combination of row or column vectors of the same length. For example: scatter([1 2 3],[4; 5; 6])
Multiple sets of points that are different colors	If all the sets share the same x- or y-coordinates, specify the shared coordinates as a vector and the other coordinates as a matrix. The length of the vector must match one of the dimensions of the matrix. For example: scatter([1 2 3],[4 5 6; 7 8 9]) If the matrix is square, scatter plots a separate set of points for each column in the matrix. Alternatively, specify x and y as matrices of equal size. In this case, scatter plots each column of y against the corresponding column of x. For example: scatter([1 3 5; 2 4 6],[10 25 45; 20 40 60])

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

y — y-coordinates

scalar | vector | matrix

y-coordinates, specified as a scalar, vector, or matrix. The size and shape of y depends on the shape of your data. This table describes the most common situations.

Type of Plot	How to Specify Coordinates
Single point	Specify x and y as scalars. For example: scatter(1,2)
One set of points	Specify x and y as any combination of row or column vectors of the same length. For example: scatter([1 2 3],[4; 5; 6])
Multiple sets of points that are different colors	If all the sets share the same x- or y-coordinates, specify the shared coordinates as a vector and the other coordinates as a matrix. The length of the vector must match one of the dimensions of the matrix. For example: scatter([1 2 3],[4 5 6; 7 8 9]) If the matrix is square, scatter plots a separate set of points for each column in the matrix. Alternatively, specify x and y as matrices of equal size. In this case, scatter plots each column of y against the corresponding column of x. For example: scatter([1 3 5; 2 4 6],[10 25 45; 20 40 60])

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

sz — Marker size

36 (default) | numeric scalar | row or column vector | matrix | []

Marker size, specified as a numeric scalar, vector, matrix, or empty array ([]). The size controls the area of each marker in points squared. An empty array specifies the default size of 36 points. The way you specify the size depends on how you specify x and y, and how you want the plot to look. This table describes the most common situations.

Desired Marker Sizes	x and y	sz	Example
Same size for all points	Any valid combination of vectors or matrices described for x and y.	Scalar	Specify x as a vector, y as a matrix, and sz as a scalar. x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 6; 3 8; 2 7; 4 9]; scatter(x,y,100)
Different size for each point	Vectors of the same length	A vector with the same length as x and y. A matrix with at least one dimension that matches the lengths of x and y. Specifying a matrix is useful for displaying multiple markers with different sizes at each (x,y) location.	Specify x, y, and sz as vectors. x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 3 2 4]; sz = [80 150 700 50]; scatter(x,y,sz) Specify x and y as vectors and sz as a matrix. x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 3 2 4]; sz = [80 30; 150 900; 50 2000; 200 350]; scatter(x,y,sz)
Different size for each point	At least one of x or y is a matrix for plotting multiple data sets	A vector with the same number of elements as there are points in each data set. A matrix that has the same size as the x or y matrix.	Specify x as a vector, y as a matrix, and sz as vector. x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 6; 3 8; 2 7; 4 9]; sz = [80 150 50 700]; scatter(x,y,sz) Specify x as a vector, y as a matrix, and sz as a matrix the same size as y. x = [1 2 3 4]; y = [1 6; 3 8; 2 7; 4 9]; sz = [80 30; 150 900; 50 2000; 200 350]; scatter(x,y,sz)

c — Marker color

color name | RGB triplet | matrix of RGB triplets | vector of colormap indices

Marker color, specified as a color name, RGB triplet, matrix of RGB triplets, or a vector of colormap indices.

• Color name — A color name such as 'red', or a short name such as 'r'.

• RGB triplet — 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]. RGB triplets are useful for creating custom colors.

• Matrix of RGB triplets — A three-column matrix in which each row is an RGB triplet.

• Vector of colormap indices — A vector of numeric values that is the same length as the x and y vectors.

The way you specify the color depends on the desired color scheme and whether you are plotting one set of coordinates or multiple sets of coordinates. This table describes the most common situations.

Color Scheme	How to Specify the Color	Example
Use one color for all the points.	Specify a color name or a short name from the table below, or specify one RGB triplet.	Plot one set of points, and specify the color as 'red'. scatter(1:4,[2 5 3 7],[],'red') Plot two sets of points, and specify the color as red using an RGB triplet. scatter(1:4,[2 5; 1 2; 8 4; 11 9],[],[1 0 0])
Assign different colors to each point using a colormap.	Specify a row or column vector of numbers. The numbers index into the current colormap array. The smallest value maps to the first row in the colormap, and the largest value maps to the last row. The intermediate values map linearly to the intermediate rows. If your plot has three points, specify a column vector to ensure the values are interpreted as colormap indices. You can use this method only when x, y, and sz are all vectors.	Create a vector c that specifies four colormap indices. Plot four points using the colors from the current colormap. Then, change the colormap to winter. c = 1:4; scatter(1:4,[2 5 3 7],[],c) colormap(gca,'winter')
Create a custom color for each point.	Specify an m-by-3 matrix of RGB triplets, where m is the number of points in the plot. You can use this method only when x, y, and sz are all vectors.	Create a matrix c that specifies RGB triplets for green, red, gray, and purple. Then create a scatter plot of four points using those colors. c = [0 1 0; 1 0 0; 0.5 0.5 0.5; 0.6 0 1]; scatter(1:4,[2 5 3 7],[],c)
Create a different color for each data set.	Specify an n-by-3 matrix of RGB triplets, where n is the number of data sets. You can use this method only when at least one of x, y, or sz is a matrix.	Create a matrix c that contains two RGB triplets. Then plot two data sets using those colors. c = [1 0 0; 0.6 0 1]; s = scatter(1:4,[2 5; 1 2; 8 4; 11 9],[],c)

Color Names and RGB Triplets for Common Colors

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'

mkr — Marker type

'o' (default) | '+' | '*' | '.' | 'x' | ...

Marker type, specified as one of the values listed in this table.

Marker	Description
'o'	Circle
'+'	Plus sign
'*'	Asterisk
'.'	Point
'x'	Cross
'_'	Horizontal line
'|'	Vertical line
's'	Square
'd'	Diamond
'^'	Upward-pointing triangle
'v'	Downward-pointing triangle
'>'	Right-pointing triangle
'<'	Left-pointing triangle
'p'	Pentagram
'h'	Hexagram

'filled' — Option to fill interior of markers

'filled'

Option to fill the interior of the markers, specified as 'filled'. Use this option with markers that have a face, for example, 'o' or 'square'. Markers that do not have a face and contain only edges do not draw ('+', '*', '.', and 'x').

The 'filled' option sets the MarkerFaceColor property of the Scatter object to 'flat' and the MarkerEdgeColor property to 'none', so the marker faces draw, but the edges do not.

ax — Target axes

Axes object | PolarAxes object | GeographicAxes object

Target axes, specified as an Axes object, a PolarAxes object, or a GeographicAxes object. If you do not specify the axes and if the current axes are Cartesian axes, then the scatter function uses the current axes. To plot into polar axes, specify the PolarAxes object as the first input argument or use the polarscatter function. To plot into geographic axes, specify the GeographicAxes object as the first input argument or use the geoscatter function.

Name-Value Pair Arguments

Specify optional comma-separated pairs of Name,Value arguments. Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name must appear inside quotes. You can specify several name and value pair arguments in any order as Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN.

Example: 'MarkerFaceColor','red' sets the marker face color to red.

The Scatter object properties listed here are only a subset. For a complete list, see Scatter Properties.

'MarkerEdgeColor' — Marker outline color

'flat' (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Marker outline color, specified 'flat', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of 'flat' uses colors from the CData 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 character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, 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: [0.5 0.5 0.5]

Example: 'blue'

Example: '#D2F9A7'

'MarkerFaceColor' — Marker fill color

'none' (default) | 'flat' | 'auto' | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Marker fill color, specified as 'flat', 'auto', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The 'flat' option uses the CData values. The 'auto' option uses the same color as the Color property for the axes.

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 character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, 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'

'LineWidth' — Width of marker edge

0.5 (default) | positive value

Width of marker edge, specified as a positive value in point units.

Example: 0.75

Output Arguments

s — Scatter object

Scatter object | array of Scatter objects

Scatter object or an array of Scatter objects. Use s to modify properties of a scatter chart after creating it.

Extended Capabilities

Tall Arrays

Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.

Usage notes and limitations:

• Supported syntaxes for tall arrays X and Y are:

  • scatter(X,Y)

  • scatter(X,Y,sz)

  • scatter(X,Y,sz,c)

  • scatter(___,'filled')

  • scatter(___,mkr)

  • scatter(___,Name,Value)

  • scatter(ax,___)

• sz must be scalar or empty [].

• c must be scalar or an RGB triplet.

• Categorical inputs are not supported.

• With tall arrays, the scatter function plots in iterations, progressively adding to the plot as more data is read. During the updates, a progress indicator shows the proportion of data that has been plotted. Zooming and panning is supported during the updating process, before the plot is complete. To stop the update process, press the pause button in the progress indicator.

For more information, see Visualization of Tall Arrays.

GPU Arrays

Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

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).