How do I change the marker size for a plot?

Im trying to set the marker size on a plot but having no luck, heres my code

this works fine

plot( 
  x , x^2,'-k*',...
  x , x^3,'-ko',...
  x , x^4,'-k' )

but when i try and set marker size it does not

plot( 
  x , x^2,'-k*',...
  x , x^3,'-ko','MarkerSize',12,...
  x , x^4,'-k' )

what do I need to do?

Answer 1

[Oleg Komarov]

You can change the marker size for a line plot by setting the “MarkerSize” property, either as a name-value pair or by accessing the “Line” object.

Name-value pair:

If you set this property as a name-value pair with the “plot” function, you must set it after all the x,y pairs. Name-value pair settings apply to all the plotted lines. To use a different marker size for each line, use separate “plot” commands. For example:

 plot(x,x^2,'-k*', 'MarkerSize',20)
 hold on
 plot(x,x^3,'-ko','MarkerSize',12)
 plot(x,x^4,'-k' )
 hold off

Accessing the “Line” object:

Alternatively, return the “Line” objects as an output argument from the “plot” function and then set the “MarkerSize” property for each object separately.

 p = plot(x,x^2,'-k*', x,x^3,'-ko', x,x^4,'-k' )
 p(1).MarkerSize = 20;
 p(2).MarkerSize = 12;

[Wo Mazdas]

Wonderful, just what I was looking for.

[Sreekar Sai Ranganathan]

Is there a way to set this globally at startup for all plots?

For e.g., for line width of plots, I found that adding the following line in startup.m does it. Is there a similar property for the default marker size?

set(groot,'defaultLineLineWidth',1.3);

[Sreekar Sai Ranganathan]

Nvm, figured it out. The following works:

set(groot,'defaultLineMarkerSize',4);

Also see this answer, if anyone needs something similar.

Answer 2

[Jan]

plot(x, x^2,'-k*');
hold('on');
plot(x, x^3,'-ko','MarkerSize', 12);
plot(x, x^4,'-k');

[Leo Simon]

For some obscure reason, MarkerSize is not consistently used. When you use scatter, you need to set 'SizeData' instead of 'MarkerSize'. Also, the scale of SizeData is different from that of MarkerSize' E.g.,

h = scatter(rand,rand,'b','filled'); set(h,'SizeData',96);

[Michelle Hirsch]

The difference is subtle, but intentional. It stems from the different use cases.

MarkerSize is used to control the overall size of markers, just like the overall width of a line with LineWidth or font size. The units are in points, just like LineWidth.

Scatter is used to actually scale the marker sizes based on data. Specifically, the area of the marker is proportional to the value. This is why the units are in points squared.

Answer 3

[Matt Fig]

To make this type of thing much easier, you could download this code so that all these options are available from a simple mouse click:

LINECMENU

[Oleg Komarov]

+1

[Michelle Hirsch]

You can also enable a context menu for changing line and marker properties just by enabling plot edit mode. Click on the button in the Figure toolbar with an arrow on it, then right click on your line.

[Frank Pierce]

yes

Answer 4

[Hari Desanur]

The Marker Size property for a particular line can be set using line object handles. For example -

l = plot(x1,y1,'*-',x2,y2,'*-');
l(1).MarkerSize = 8; % set marker size of 8 for the first line (x1,y1)
l(2).MarkerSize = 12;

[P_L]

Hi there and what if you wanted to chnage the colours of 'ko' data points so that they are filled for example with 'b'

Many thanks