Main Content

fontsize

Change font size for objects in a figure

collapse all in page

    Syntax

    fontsize(obj,size,units)
    fontsize(obj,"increase")
    fontsize(obj,"decrease")
    fontsize(obj,scale=sfactor)
    fontsize(obj,"default")

    Description

    example

    fontsize(obj,size,units) sets the font size and font units for all of the text within graphics object obj. If obj contains other graphics objects, such as a figure that contains UI components or an axes object that has a legend, fontsize also sets the font size and font units for those objects within obj. Font units can be "points", "pixels", "inches", or "centimeters".

    example

    fontsize(obj,"increase") increases the font size by a factor of 1.1.

    fontsize(obj,"decrease") decreases the font size by a factor of 0.9.

    example

    fontsize(obj,scale=sfactor) scales the font size by a factor of sfactor. For example, use a scale factor of 1.2 to scale by 120%.

    example

    fontsize(obj,"default") resets the font size and font units back to the default, automatic values for obj.

    Examples

    collapse all

    Open Live Script

    Create a plot of random data, and add a plot title and legend.

    y = rand(5);
plot(y)
title("2-D Line Plot")
legend("Line 1","Line 2","Line 3","Line 4","Line 5")

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title 2-D Line Plot contains 5 objects of type line. These objects represent Line 1, Line 2, Line 3, Line 4, Line 5.

    Set the font size of all text within the axes object to 10 and the font units to "pixels". Use the object returned by gca as the target object to apply this change.

    fontsize(gca,10,"pixels")

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title 2-D Line Plot contains 5 objects of type line. These objects represent Line 1, Line 2, Line 3, Line 4, Line 5.

    Open Live Script

    Create a plot with several text elements of varying font sizes.

    [X,Y,Z] = peaks;
contourf(X,Y,Z,LineColor="#4F4F4F")
title("Peak Elevation")
colorbar
annotation("textarrow",[.53 .41],[.65 .47],String="Local maxima")
annotation("textarrow",[.53 .59],[.65 .55])

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title Peak Elevation contains an object of type contour.

    Scale the font sizes in the figure by 120% by using a scale factor of 1.2. The fontsize function scales each font size individually, maintaining the relative sizes of the fonts.

    fontsize(gcf,scale=1.2)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title Peak Elevation contains an object of type contour.

    Open Live Script

    Create a tiling of several plots by using the tiledlayout and nexttile functions.

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

% Top scatter plot in tiles 1,2
ax1 = nexttile([1 2]);
scatter(x,y)
title("Random Variance on Cosine")

% Lower polar plot in tile 3
ax2 = nexttile;
plot(x,cos(x)+0.5)

% Lower histogram in tile 4
ax3 = nexttile;
histogram(y,20)

    Figure contains 3 axes objects. Axes object 1 with title Random Variance on Cosine contains an object of type scatter. Axes object 2 contains an object of type line. Axes object 3 contains an object of type histogram.

    Scale up the font size of the scatter plot, and change the font size of the other two plots to 10 pixels.

    fontsize(ax1,scale=1.2)
fontsize([ax2 ax3],10,"pixels")

    Figure contains 3 axes objects. Axes object 1 with title Random Variance on Cosine contains an object of type scatter. Axes object 2 contains an object of type line. Axes object 3 contains an object of type histogram.

    To undo the font size changes across all the tiled plots, reset the font sizes and units to their default values. Apply this change to all three plots by using the current figure object returned by gcf.

    fontsize(gcf,"default")

    Figure contains 3 axes objects. Axes object 1 with title Random Variance on Cosine contains an object of type scatter. Axes object 2 contains an object of type line. Axes object 3 contains an object of type histogram.

    Open Live Script

    Create the following function file, and save it as myapplayout.m on your MATLAB® path. This function returns the layout for a simple app to plot data using different plot types.

    function fig = myapplayout
% Create figure window
fig = uifigure;

% Create UI components
ax = uiaxes(fig,Position=[15 70 535 340]);
lbl = uilabel(fig,Position=[30 15 100 35],Text="Choose Plot Type:");
b1 = uibutton(fig,Position=[140 15 180 35],Text="Surf");
b2 = uibutton(fig,Position=[350 15 180 35],Text="Mesh");

% Configure UI component appearance
surf(ax,peaks);
fontsize(fig,8,"pixels")
title(ax,"Peak Surface",FontSize=11)
end

    Call the function and assign the returned figure object to f. 

    f = myapplayout;

    {"String":"Figure contains an axes object and other objects of type uilabel, uibutton. The axes object with title Peak Surface contains an object of type surface.","Tex":"Peak Surface","LaTex":[]}

    Use f to increase the font size of all text in the figure until it is more easily readable. Here, the fontsize function increases each font size individually by a scale factor of 1.1, maintaining the relative sizes of the fonts.

    fontsize(f,"increase")
fontsize(f,"increase")
fontsize(f,"increase")

    {"String":"Figure contains an axes object and other objects of type uilabel, uibutton. The axes object with title Peak Surface contains an object of type surface.","Tex":"Peak Surface","LaTex":[]}

    Input Arguments

    collapse all

    Object or container with text, specified as a graphics object or array of graphics objects. The fontsize function sets the font size of text in the specified objects. If obj contains other graphics objects, such as a figure that contains UI components or an axes object that has a legend, the function also sets the font size and font units for those objects within obj. Objects without a FontSize property are not affected.

    Font size, specified as a positive scalar value.

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

    Font size units, specified as "points", "pixels", "inches", or "centimeters".

    Scale factor, specified as a scalar. All font sizes under the target object are scaled by sfactor. Use a scale factor greater than 1 to increase the font sizes or a factor less than 1 to decrease the font sizes.

    Example: fontsize(gcf,scale=0.8) scales the text to 80% of its original size.

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

    Version History

    Introduced in R2022a

    See Also

    | |

    Topics