area

Filled area 2-D plot

• 

Syntax

area(X,Y)

area(Y)

area(___,basevalue)

area(___,Name,Value)

area(ax,___)

a = area(___)

Description

area(X,Y) plots the values in Y against the x-coordinates X. The function then fills the areas between the curves based on the shape of Y:

• If Y is a vector, the plot contains one curve. area fills the area between the curve and the horizontal axis.

• If Y is a matrix, the plot contains one curve for each column in Y. area fills the areas between the curves and stacks them, showing the relative contribution of each row element to the total height at each x-coordinate.

area(Y) plots Y against an implicit set of x-coordinates and fills the areas between the curves.

• If Y is a vector, the x-coordinates range from 1 to length(Y).

• If Y is a matrix, the x-coordinates range from 1 to the number of rows in Y.

area(___,basevalue) specifies the baseline value for the area plot. basevalue corresponds to a horizontal baseline. area fills the area confined between the curves and this line. Specify basevalue as the last argument in any of the previous syntaxes.

area(___,Name,Value) modifies the properties of the area plot using one or more name-value pair arguments. The properties apply to all of the displayed areas. For example, 'LineStyle','--' specifies a dashed line style for the plot. Specify the name-value pairs after all of the arguments in any of the previous syntaxes. For a list of properties, see Area Properties.

area(ax,___) displays the area plot in the target axes. Specify the axes as the first argument in any of the previous syntaxes.

a = area(___) returns one or more Area objects. The number of objects is equal to the number of plotted areas. Use a to modify properties of the areas after creating them. For a list of properties, see Area Properties.

Examples

Create Area Plot with One Curve

Create a vector of four values. Display the values in an area plot.

y = [1 5 6 3];
area(y)

Create Area Plot with Multiple Curves

Create matrix Y. Then display the values in Y as an area plot. Because Y contains three columns, area plots three curves and stacks them.

Y = [1 5 3; 3 2 7; 1 5 3; 2 6 1];
area(Y)

Create Area Plot Using Horizontal Axis Values

Define x as a vector of three car dealership IDs. Define Y as a matrix containing the number of cars sold per model. Display the values in the matrix in an area plot. Then add the axis labels and a legend.

x = [10 11 12];
Y = [21.6 25.4; 70.8 66.1; 58.0 43.6];
area(x,Y)
xlabel('Dealership ID')
ylabel('Sales')
legend({'Model A','Model B'})

Set the tick marks along the x-axis to correspond to the values in x.

ax = gca; % current axes
ax.XTick = x;

Adjust Baseline Value of Area Plot

Create matrix Y. Then display the values of Y in an area plot with a baseline value of -4. area fills the areas specified by the curves and the line y = -4.

Y = [1 5 3; 3 2 7; 1 5 3; 2 6 1];
basevalue = -4;
area(Y,basevalue)

Specify Line Style of Area Plot

Create matrix Y. Display the values of Y in an area plot that uses a dotted line style.

Y = [1 3 5; 3 2 7; 3 4 2];
area(Y,'LineStyle',':')

Plot Filled Area into Target Axes

Create a tiled chart layout in the 'flow' tile arrangement, so that the axes fill the available space in the layout. Next, call the nexttile function to create an Axes object and return it as ax1. Display an area plot by passing ax1 to the area function.

tiledlayout('flow')
ax1 = nexttile;
Y1 = [3 6; 1 5; 7 2; 5 9];
area(ax1,Y1)

Repeat the process to create a second Axes object and a second area plot.

ax2 = nexttile;
Y2 = [4 2 11; 5 6 0; 1 7 2; 9 5 9];
area(ax2,Y2)

Change Area Characteristics After Plotting

Create matrix Y. Then create an area plot, specifying an output argument when calling the area function. In this case, area returns a vector of three Area objects. Each object corresponds to a different column of Y.

Y = [2 3 4; 6 1 5; 7 4 9];
a = area(Y);

Modify the second area to be green with thick red edges.

a(2).FaceColor = [0.2 0.6 0.5];
a(2).EdgeColor = [0.63 0.08 0.18];
a(2).LineWidth = 2;

Set Colors in Area Plot

Display an area plot with three curves.

area([1 5 3; 3 2 7; 1 5 3; 2 6 1])

Set the color order to blue, purple, and gray.

newcolors = [0 0.5 1; 0.5 0 1; 0.7 0.7 0.7];
colororder(newcolors)

Input Arguments

X — x-coordinates

vector | matrix

x-coordinates, specified as a vector or matrix. The size and shape of X depend on the shape of your data and the type of plot you want to create. This table describes the most common situations.

Type of Plot	How to Specify Coordinates
Single area	Specify X and Y as any combination of row or column vectors of the same length. For example: area([1 3 5],[9; 4; 6]) Specify X as a vector of increasing values. If the values in X are not increasing, then area sorts the values before plotting.
Stacked areas	area plots one filled area for each column of Y and stacks the areas. Specify Y as a matrix and X as a row or column vector with length equal to the number of rows in Y. For example: area([1 2 3 4],[3 6; 1 5; 7 2; 5 9]) If the values in X are not increasing, then area sorts the values before plotting. You also can specify X as a matrix with the same size as Y. To avoid unexpected output when X is a matrix, specify X with identical columns.

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

Y — y-coordinates

vector | matrix

y-coordinates, specified as a vector or matrix. The size and shape of Y depend on the shape of your data and the type of plot you want to create. This table describes the possible situations.

Type of Plot	How to Specify Coordinates
Single area	Specify X and Y as any combination of row or column vectors of the same length. For example: area([1 3 5],[9; 4; 6]) Specify X as a vector of increasing values. If the values in X are not increasing, then area sorts the values before plotting.
Stacked areas	area plots one filled area for each column of Y and stacks the areas. Specify Y as a matrix and X as a row or column vector with length equal to the number of rows in Y. For example: area([1 2 3 4],[3 6; 1 5; 7 2; 5 9]) If the values in X are not increasing, then area sorts the values before plotting. You also can specify X as a matrix with the same size as Y. To avoid unexpected output when X is a matrix, specify X with identical columns.

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

basevalue — Baseline value

0 (default) | numeric scalar

Baseline value, specified as a numeric scalar. The baseline value specifies the y-coordinate of a horizontal baseline. area fills the area confined between the data curves and this baseline.

ax — Target axes

Axes object

Target axes, specified as an Axes object. If you do not specify the axes, then area displays the plot in the current axes.

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: area([1 2 3],'FaceColor','r') specifies a red fill color for the area.

Note

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

FaceColor — Area fill color

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

Area fill color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or 'flat'.

Starting in R2017b, the default value is an RGB triplet from the ColorOrder property of the axes. In previous releases, the default value was 'flat' and the colors were based on the colormap.

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)).

EdgeColor — Area outline color

RGB triplet | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | 'flat' | ...

Area outline color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or 'flat'. Specifying this property as 'flat' uses the colors of the colormap.

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)).

LineStyle — Line style

"-" (default) | "--" | ":" | "-." | "none"

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line
"none"	No line	No line

LineWidth — Area outline width

0.5 (default) | scalar numeric value

Area outline width, specified as a scalar numeric value in point units. One point equals 1/72 inch.

Example: 1.5

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

Tips

• area uses colors based on the ColorOrder property of the axes. It cycles through all colors, and then it repeats the cycle if you plot more filled regions than there are colors.

  Starting in R2019b, you can change the colors after plotting by setting the ColorOrder property on the axes. You can also call the colororder function to change the color order for all the axes in the figure.

Extended Capabilities

GPU Arrays

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

The area function supports GPU array input with these 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).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a