Graphics

Setting Default Line Styles

You can configure MATLAB to use line styles instead of colors for multi-line plots by setting a default value for the axes LineStyle property. For example, the command,

• set(0,'DefaultAxesLineStyleOrder',{'-o',':s','--+'})
  

defines three line styles and makes them the default for all plots.

To set the default line color to dark gray, use the statement

• set(0,'DefaultAxesColorOrder',[0.4,0.4,0.4])
  

See ColorSpec for information on how to specify color as a three-element vector of RGB values.

Now the plot command uses the line styles and colors you have defined as defaults. For example, these statements create a multiline plot.

• x = 0:pi/10:2*pi;
  y1 = sin(x);
  y2 = sin(x-pi/2);
  y3 = sin(x-pi);
  plot(x,y1,x,y2,x,y3)
  
  
  

The default values persist until you quit MATLAB. To remove default values during your MATLAB session, use the reserved word remove.

• set(0,'DefaultAxesLineStyleOrder','remove')
  set(0,'DefaultAxesColorOrder','remove')
  

See "Setting Default Property Values" in the "Handle Graphics Objects" chapter for more information.

Line Styles for Black and White Output

Line Plots of Matrix Data