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findobj

Locate graphics objects with specific properties

Syntax

Description

findobj locates graphics objects and returns their handles. You can limit the search to objects with particular property values and along specific branches of the hierarchy.

h = findobj returns the handles of the root object and all its descendants.

h = findobj('PropertyName',PropertyValue,...) returns the handles of all graphics objects having the property PropertyName, set to the value PropertyValue. You can specify more than one property/value pair, in which case, findobj returns only those objects having all specified values.

h = findobj('PropertyName',PropertyValue,'-logicaloperator',
PropertyName',PropertyValue,...) applies the logical operator to the property value matching. Possible values for -logicaloperator are:

See the Examples section for examples of how to use these operators. See Logical Operators for an explanation of logical operators.

h = findobj('-regexp','PropertyName','regexp',...) matches objects using regular expressions as if the value of the property PropertyName was passed to the regexp function as

If a match occurs, findobj returns the object's handle. See the regexp function for information on how MATLAB uses regular expressions.

h = findobj('-property','PropertyName') finds all objects having the specified property.

h = findobj(objhandles,...) restricts the search to objects listed in objhandles and their descendants.

h = findobj(objhandles,'-depth',d,...) specified the depth of the search. The depth argument d controls how many levels under the handles in objhandles are traversed. Specifying d as inf to get the default behavior of all levels. Specify d as 0 to get the same behavior as using the flat argument.

h = findobj(objhandles,'flat','PropertyName',PropertyValue,...) restricts the search to those objects listed in objhandles and does not search descendants.

Remarks

findobj returns an error if a handle refers to a nonexistent graphics object.

findobj correctly matches any legal property value. For example,

finds all objects having a Color property set to red, r, or [1 0 0].

When a graphics object is a descendant of more than one object identified in objhandles, MATLAB searches the object each time findobj encounters its handle. Therefore, implicit references to a graphics object can result in its handle being returned multiple times.

Examples

Find all line objects in the current axes:

Find all objects having a Label set to 'foo' and a String set to 'bar':

Find all objects whose String is not 'foo' and is not 'bar':

Find all objects having a String set to 'foo' and a Tag set to 'button one' and whose Color is not 'red' or 'blue':

Find all objects for which you have assigned a value to the Tag property (that is, the value is not the empty string ''):

Find all children of the current figure that have their BackgroundColor property set to a certain shade of gray ([.7 .7 .7]). Note that this statement also searches the current figure for the matching property value pair.

See Also

copyobj, gcf, gca, gcbo, gco, get, regexp, set

See Example -- Using Logical Operators and Regular Expressions for more examples.

Finding and Identifying Graphics Objects for related functions


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