title

Add title

Syntax

title(titletext)

title(titletext,subtitletext)

title(___,Name,Value)

title(target,___)

t = title(___)

[t,s] = title(___)

Description

title(titletext) adds the specified title to the current axes or standalone visualization. Reissuing the title command causes the new title to replace the old title.

title(titletext,subtitletext) adds a subtitle underneath the title.

title(___,Name,Value) modifies the title appearance using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, 'FontSize',12 sets the font size to 12 points. Specify name-value pair arguments after all other input arguments. Modifying the title appearance is not supported for all types of charts.

title(target,___) adds the title to the specified target object.

t = title(___) returns the object used for the title. Use t to make future modifications to the title.

[t,s] = title(___) returns the objects used for the title and the subtitle. Use t to modify the title, and use s to modify the subtitle.

Examples

Add Title to Current Axes

Create a figure and display a title in the current axes.

plot((1:10).^2)
title('My Title')

You also can call title with a function that returns text. For example, the date function returns text with today's date.

title(date)

MATLAB® sets the output of date as the axes title.

Create Title and Subtitle

Create a plot. Then create a title and a subtitle by calling the title function with two character vectors as arguments. Use the 'Color' name-value pair argument to customize the color for both lines of text. Specify two return arguments to store the text objects for the title and subtitle.

plot([0 1])
[t,s] = title('Straight Line','Slope = 1, y-Intercept = 0',...
    'Color','blue');

Change the font size for the title to 16, and change the font angle for the subtitle to 'italic'.

t.FontSize = 16;
s.FontAngle = 'italic';

Include Variable's Value in Title

Include the value of variable c in a title.

figure
plot((1:10).^2)
f = 70;
c = (f-32)/1.8;
title(['Temperature is ',num2str(c),' C'])

Create Multicolored Title Using TeX Markup

Use the color modifier \color to change the color of characters following it from the previous color.

plot((1:10).^2)
title(['\fontsize{16}black {\color{magenta}magenta '...
'\color[rgb]{0 .5 .5}teal \color{red}red} black again'])

Create Title with LaTeX Markup

Create a plot, and define t as a character vector that includes LaTeX markup. Surround the markup with dollar signs ($). Then pass t to the title function, and set the Interpreter property to 'latex'.

x = 0:0.1:10;
y = sin(x);
dy = cos(x);
plot(x,y,x,dy);
t = '$sin(x)$ and $\frac{d}{dx}sin(x)$';
title(t,'interpreter','latex')

Create Colored Title Using Name,Value Pair Argument

Use the Name,Value pair 'Color','m' to set the color of the title to magenta.

figure
plot((1:10).^2)
title('Case number # 3','Color', 'm')

Include Greek Symbols in Title

Use TeX markup to include Greek symbols in a title.

t = (0:0.01:0.2);
y = exp(-25*t);
figure
plot(t,y)
title('y = \ite^{\lambda t}','Color','b')

The 'Interpreter' property must be 'tex' (the default).

Include Superscript or Subscript Character in Title

figure
plot((1:10).^2)
title('\alpha^2 and X_1')

The superscript character, "^", and the subscript character, "_", modify the character or substring defined in braces immediately following.

Create Multiline Title

Create a multiline title using a multiline cell array.

figure
plot((1:10).^2)
title({'First line';'Second line'})

Display Text As Typed

Set the Interpreter property as 'none' so that the text X_1 is displayed in the figure as typed, without making 1 a subscript of X.

plot((1:10).^2)
title('X_1','Interpreter','none')

Add Title to Specific Axes

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. Then plot data into each axes.

tiledlayout(2,1)
ax1 = nexttile;
plot(ax1,(1:10).^2)
ax2 = nexttile;
plot(ax2,(1:10).^3)

Add a title to each axes by passing ax1 and ax2 to the title function.

title(ax1,'Top Plot')
title(ax2,'Bottom Plot')

Add Title and Return Text Handle

Add a title to a plot and return the text object.

plot((1:10).^2)
t = title('My Title');

Set the color of the title to red. Use dot notation to set properties.

t.Color = 'red';

Change Title Alignment

Create a plot with a title. Get the current axes, and then align the title to the left edge of the plot box by setting the TitleHorizontalAlignment property of the axes to 'left'.

plot([0 2],[1 5])
title('Straight Line')
ax = gca;
ax.TitleHorizontalAlignment = 'left';

Center the title setting the TitleHorizontalAlignment property on the axes to 'center'.

ax.TitleHorizontalAlignment = 'center';

Input Arguments

titletext — Title text

'' (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | string array | categorical array | numeric value

Title text, specified as a character vector, cell array of character vectors, string array, categorical array, or numeric value. Specify a value according to how you want the text to appear. This table lists the most common situations.

Appearance of Text	Description of Value	Example
One line of text	Character vector or string scalar.	txt = 'My Text' or txt = "My Text"
Multiple lines of text	Cell array of character vectors or string array.	txt = {'First line','Second line'}; or txt = ["First line", "Second line"];
Text that includes a numeric variable	Array that includes the number converted to a char array. Use num2str to convert the value.	x = 42; txt = ['The value is ',num2str(x)];
Text that includes special characters such as Greek letters or mathematical symbols	Array that includes TeX markup. For a list of supported markup, see the Interpreter property.	txt = 'x ranges from 0 to 2\pi'

Note

• The words default, factory, and remove are reserved words that do not appear in text when quoted as normal characters. To display any of these words individually, precede them with a backslash, such as '\default' or '\remove'.

• If you specify this property as a categorical array, MATLAB^® uses the values in the array, not the categories.

• If you specify text that contains only a numeric value, the value is converted using sprintf('%g',value). For example, 12345678 displays as 1.23457e+07.

subtitletext — Subtitle text

'' (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | string array | categorical array | numeric value

Subtitle text, specified as a character vector, cell array of character vectors, string array, categorical array, or numeric value. Specify a value according to how you want the text to appear. This table lists the most common situations.

Appearance of Text	Description of Value	Example
One line of text	Character vector or string scalar.	txt = 'My Text' or txt = "My Text"
Multiple lines of text	Cell array of character vectors or string array.	txt = {'First line','Second line'}; or txt = ["First line", "Second line"];
Text that includes a numeric variable	Array that includes the number converted to a char array. Use num2str to convert the value.	x = 42; txt = ['The value is ',num2str(x)];
Text that includes special characters such as Greek letters or mathematical symbols	Array that includes TeX markup. For a list of supported markup, see the Interpreter property.	txt = 'x ranges from 0 to 2\pi'

Note

• The words default, factory, and remove are reserved words that do not appear in text when quoted as normal characters. To display any of these words individually, precede them with a backslash, such as '\default' or '\remove'.

• If you specify this property as a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the categories.

• If you specify text that contains only a numeric value, the value is converted using sprintf('%g',value). For example, 12345678 displays as 1.23457e+07.

target — Target for title

axes | legend | tiled chart layout | standalone visualization | array of objects

Target for the title, specified as one of the following:

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

• Any type of legend: a Legend or BubbleLegendobject.

• A TiledChartLayout object.

• A standalone visualization that has a Title property. For example, you can add a title to a HeatmapChart object.

• An array of graphics objects from the preceding list. The objects must belong to the same class. To determine the class, use the class function.

If you do not specify the target for the title, then the title function adds the title to the graphics object returned by the gca command.

Note

Some charts do not support modifying the title appearance, such as the color, or returning the text object as an output argument.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: 'Color','red','FontSize',14 adds a title with red, 14-point font.

In addition to the following, you can specify other text object properties using Name,Value pair arguments. See Text Properties.

FontSize — Font size

11 (default) | scalar value greater than 0

Font size, specified as a scalar value greater than 0 in point units. One point equals 1/72 inch. To change the font units, use the FontUnits property.

If you add a title or subtitle to an axes object, then the font size property for the axes also affects the font size for the title and subtitle. The title and subtitle font sizes are the axes font size multiplied by a scale factor. The FontSize property of the axes contains the axes font size. The TitleFontSizeMultiplier property of the axes contains the scale factor. By default, the axes font size is 10 points and the scale factor is 1.1, so the title and subtitle each have a font size of 11 points.

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

FontWeight — Thickness of text characters

'normal' | 'bold'

Thickness of the text characters, specified as one of these values:

• 'normal' — Normal weight as defined by the particular font

• 'bold' — Thicker characters outlines than normal

MATLAB uses the FontWeight property to select a font from those available on your system. Not all fonts have a bold font weight. Therefore, specifying a bold font weight could still result in the normal font weight.

The TitleFontWeight property for the associated axes affects the FontWeight value for the title. Similarly, the SubtitleFontWeight property for the associated axes affects the FontWeight value for the subtitle.

Note

The 'light' and 'demi' font weight values have been removed. Use 'normal' instead.

FontName — Font name

supported font name | "FixedWidth"

Font name, specified as a supported font name or "FixedWidth". To display and print text properly, you must choose a font that your system supports. The default font depends on your operating system and locale.

To use a fixed-width font that looks good in any locale, use "FixedWidth". The fixed-width font relies on the root FixedWidthFontName property. Setting the root FixedWidthFontName property causes an immediate update of the display to use the new font.

Color — Text color

RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Text color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of [0 0 0] corresponds to black.

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 string scalar or character vector 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. Therefore, 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 the 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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

Palette	Palette Colors
"gem" — Light theme default Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default.
"glow" — Dark theme default

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

Example: '#0000FF'

Interpreter — Text interpreter

'tex' (default) | 'latex' | 'none'

Text interpreter, specified as one of these values:

• 'tex' — Interpret characters using a subset of TeX markup.

• 'latex' — Interpret characters using LaTeX markup.

• 'none' — Display literal characters.

TeX Markup

By default, MATLAB supports a subset of TeX markup. Use TeX markup to add superscripts and subscripts, modify the font type and color, and include special characters in the text.

Modifiers remain in effect until the end of the text. Superscripts and subscripts are an exception because they modify only the next character or the characters within the curly braces. When you set the interpreter to "tex", the supported modifiers are as follows.

Modifier	Description	Example
^{ }	Superscript	"text^{superscript}"
_{ }	Subscript	"text_{subscript}"
\bf	Bold font	"\bf text"
\it	Italic font	"\it text"
\sl	Oblique font (usually the same as italic font)	"\sl text"
\rm	Normal font	"\rm text"
\fontname{specifier}	Font name — Replace specifier with the name of a font family. You can use this in combination with other modifiers.	"\fontname{Courier} text"
\fontsize{specifier}	Font size —Replace specifier with a numeric scalar value in point units.	"\fontsize{15} text"
\color{specifier}	Font color — Replace specifier with one of these colors: red, green, yellow, magenta, blue, black, white, gray, darkGreen, orange, or lightBlue.	"\color{magenta} text"
\color[rgb]{specifier}	Custom font color — Replace specifier with a three-element RGB triplet.	"\color[rgb]{0,0.5,0.5} text"

This table lists the supported special characters for the "tex" interpreter.

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

LaTeX Markup

To use LaTeX markup, set the interpreter to "latex". For inline mode, surround the markup with single dollar signs ($). For display mode, surround the markup with double dollar signs ($$).

LaTeX Mode	Example	Result
Inline	"$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$"
Display	"$$\int_1^{20} x^2 dx$$"

The displayed text uses the default LaTeX font style. The FontName, FontWeight, and FontAngle properties do not have an effect. To change the font style, use LaTeX markup.

The maximum size of the text that you can use with the LaTeX interpreter is 1200 characters. For multiline text, this reduces by about 10 characters per line.

MATLAB supports most standard LaTeX math mode commands. For more information, see Supported LaTeX Commands. For examples that use TeX and LaTeX, see Greek Letters and Special Characters in Chart Text.

Output Arguments

t — Object used for title

text object | legend text object

Object used for the title, returned as one of these types of objects:

• Text object — If you add a title to axes, then title returns a text object. Use this text object to access and modify properties of the title after it is created. For a list of text object properties, see Text Properties. You also can access the title through the Title property of the axes object.

• Legend text object — If you add a title to a legend, then title returns a legend text object. Use this legend text object to access and modify properties of the title after it is created. For a list of legend text object properties, see Text Properties. You also can access the title through the Title property of the legend object.

s — Object used for subtitle

text object

Object used for the subtitle, returned as a text object. Use this text object to modify properties of the subtitle after creating it. For a list of text object properties, see Text Properties. You also can access the subtitle through the Subtitle property of the axes object.

Tips

• By default, the Interactions property contains editInteraction so the text can be edited by clicking on the text. To disable this interaction, set the Interactions property of the text object to [].

Version History

Introduced before R2006a