Why delete(fin​dobj(gca,'​type', 'patch')) is not working for erasing scattered points ?

Here's a simple snippet that shows that

delete(findobj(gca,'type', 'patch'))

is not working for erasing scattered points:

figure
x = [1,2,3,4]
y = [1,2,3,7]
scatter(x,y,50);
delete(findobj(gca,'type', 'patch')) % not working
%delete(findobj(gca,'SizeData', 50)) % does work

Uncommenting the last line solves the problem, but this is a workaround, or what ?

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

"Why delete(fin​dobj(gca,'​type', 'patch')) is not working for erasing scattered points ?"

Because s = scatter(___) produces a scatter object, not a patch object.

Instead,

delete(findobj(gca,'type', 'scatter'))

Or better yet, use the scatter output which does not require the use of the axis handle and is more responsible since you're deleting a specific object rather than deleting all existing matches to an object type within the current axes.

s = scatter(. . .);
delete(s)