MATLAB Function Reference

print, printopt

Create hardcopy output

Syntax

• print
  print filename
  print -ddriver
  print -dformat
  print -dformat filename
  print -smodelname
  print ... -options
  [pcmd,dev] = printopt
  

Description

print and printopt produce hardcopy output. All arguments to the print command are optional. You can use them in any combination or order.

print sends the contents of the current figure, including bitmap representations of any user interface controls, to the printer using the device and system printing command defined by printopt.

print filename directs the output to the file designated by filename. If filename does not include an extension, print appends an appropriate extension.

print -ddriver prints the figure using the specified printer driver, (such as color PostScript). If you omit -ddriver, print uses the default value stored in printopt.m. The Printer Driver table lists all supported device types.

print -dformat copies the figure to the system clipboard (Windows only). A valid format for this operation is either -dmeta (Windows Enhanced Metafile) or -dbitmap (Windows Bitmap).

print -dformat filename exports the figure to the specified file using the specified graphics format, (such as TIFF). The Graphics Format table lists all supported graphics file formats.

print -smodelname prints the current Simulink model modelname.

print -options specifies print options that modify the action of the print command. (For example, the -noui option suppresses printing of user interface controls.) The Options section lists available options.

print(...) is the function form of print. It enables you to pass variables for any input arguments. This form is useful for passing filenames and handles. See Batch Processing for an example.

[pcmd,dev] = printopt returns strings containing the current system-dependent printing command and output device. printopt is an M-file used by print to produce the hardcopy output. You can edit the M-file printopt.m to set your default printer type and destination.

pcmd and dev are platform-dependent strings. pcmd contains the command that print uses to send a file to the printer. dev contains the printer driver or graphics format option for the print command. Their defaults are platform dependent.

Platform	System Printing Command	Driver or Format
UNIX	lpr -r	-dps2
Windows	COPY /B %s LPT1:	-dwin

Drivers

The table below shows the more widely-used printer drivers supported by MATLAB. If you do not specify a driver, MATLAB uses the default setting shown in the previous table. For a list of all supported printer drivers, type

• print -d
  

at the MATLAB prompt.

Some of the drivers are available from a product called Ghostscript, which is shipped with MATLAB. The last column indicates when Ghostscript is used.

Some drivers are not available on all platforms. This is noted in the first column of the table.

Printer Driver	PRINT Command Option String	GhostScript
Canon BubbleJet BJ10e	-dbj10e	Yes
Canon BubbleJet BJ200 color	-dbj200	Yes
Canon Color BubbleJet BJC-70/BJC-600/BJC-4000	-dbjc600	Yes
Canon Color BubbleJet BJC-800	-dbjc800	Yes
DEC LN03	-dln03	Yes
Epson and compatible 9- or 24-pin dot matrix print drivers	-depson	Yes
Epson and compatible 9-pin with interleaved lines (triple resolution)	-deps9high	Yes
Epson LQ-2550 and compatible; color (not supported on HP-700)	-depsonc	Yes
Fujitsu 3400/2400/1200	-depsonc	Yes
HP DesignJet 650C color (not supported on Windows)	-ddnj650c	Yes
HP DeskJet 500	-ddjet500	Yes
HP DeskJet 500C (creates black and white output)	-dcdjmono	Yes
HP DeskJet 500C (with 24 bit/pixel color and high-quality Floyd-Steinberg color dithering) (not supported on Windows)	-dcdjcolor	Yes
HP DeskJet 500C/540C color (not supported on Windows)	-dcdj500	Yes
HP Deskjet 550C color (not supported on Windows)	-dcdj550	Yes
HP DeskJet and DeskJet Plus	-ddeskjet	Yes
HP LaserJet	-dlaserjet	Yes
HP LaserJet+	-dljetplus	Yes
HP LaserJet IIP	-dljet2p	Yes
HP LaserJet III	-dljet3	Yes
HP LaserJet 4.5L and 5P	-dljet4	Yes
HP LaserJet 5 and 6	-dpxlmono	Yes
HP PaintJet color	-dpaintjet	Yes
HP PaintJet XL color	-dpjxl	Yes
HP PaintJet XL color	-dpjetxl	Yes
HP PaintJet XL300 color (not supported on Windows)	-dpjxl300	Yes
HPGL for HP 7475A and other compatible plotters. (Renderer cannot be set to Z-buffer.)	-dhpgl	No
IBM 9-pin Proprinter	-dibmpro	Yes
PostScript black and white	-dps	No
PostScript color	-dpsc	No
PostScript Level 2 black and white	-dps2	No
PostScript Level 2 color	-dpsc2	No
Windows color (Windows only)	-dwinc	No
Windows monochrome (Windows only)	-dwin	No

Note    Generally, Level 2 PostScript files are smaller and are rendered more quickly when printing than Level 1 PostScript files. However, not all PostScript printers support Level 2, so determine the capabilities of your printer before using those drivers. Level 2 PostScript is the default for UNIX. You can change this default by editing the printopt.m file. Likewise, if you want color PostScript to be the default instead of black-and-white PostScript, edit the line in the printop.m file that reads "dev = '-dps2';" to be "dev = '-dpsc2';".

Graphics Format Files

To save your figure as a graphics-format file, specify a format switch and filename. To set the resolution of the output file for a built-in MATLAB format, use the -r switch. (For example, -r300 sets the output resolution to 300 dots per inch.) The -r switch is also supported for Windows Enhanced Metafiles, JPEG, and PNG files, but is not supported for Ghostscript formats.

The table below shows the supported output formats for exporting from MATLAB and the switch settings to use. In some cases, a format is available both as a MATLAB output filter and as a Ghostscript output filter. The first column indicates this by showing "MATLAB" or "Ghostscript" in parentheses. All formats except for EMF are supported on both the PC and UNIX platforms.

Graphics Format	Bitmap or Vector	PRINT Command Option String	MATLAB or Ghostscript
BMP monochrome BMP	Bitmap	-dbmpmono	Ghostscript
BMP 24-bit BMP	Bitmap	-dbmp16m	Ghostscript
BMP 8-bit (256-color) BMP *this format uses a fixed colormap	Bitmap	-dbmp256	Ghostscript
BMP 24-bit	Bitmap	-dbmp	MATLAB
EMF	Vector	-dmeta	MATLAB
EPS black and white	Vector	-deps	MATLAB
EPS color	Vector	-depsc	MATLAB
EPS Level 2 black and white	Vector	-deps2	MATLAB
EPS Level 2 color	Vector	-depsc2	MATLAB
HDF 24-bit	Bitmap	-dhdf	MATLAB
ILL (Adobe Illustrator)	Vector	-dill	MATLAB
JPEG 24-bit	Bitmap	-djpeg	MATLAB
PBM (plain format) 1-bit	Bitmap	-dpbm	Ghostscript
PBM (raw format) 1-bit	Bitmap	-dpbmraw	Ghostscript
PCX 1-bit	Bitmap	-dpcxmono	Ghostscript
PCX 24-bit color PCX file format, three 8-bit planes	Bitmap	-dpcx24b	Ghostscript
PCX 8-bit Newer color PCX file format (256-color)	Bitmap	-dpcx256	Ghostscript
PCX Older color PCX file format (EGA/VGA, 16-color)	Bitmap	-dpcx16	Ghostscript
PCX 8-bit	Bitmap	-dpcx	MATLAB
PDF Color PDF file format	Vector	-dpdf	Ghostscript
PGM Portable Graymap (plain format)	Bitmap	-dpgm	Ghostscript
PGM Portable Graymap (raw format)	Bitmap	-dpgmraw	Ghostscript
PNG 24-bit	Bitmap	-dpng	MATLAB
PPM Portable Pixmap, plain format	Bitmap	-dppm	Ghostscript
PPM Portable Pixmap raw format	Bitmap	-dppmraw	Ghostscript
TIFF 24-bit	Bitmap	-dtiff or -dtiffn	MATLAB
TIFF preview for EPS Files	Bitmap	-tiff

The TIFF image format is supported on all platforms by almost all word processors for importing images. JPEG is a lossy, highly compressed format that is supported on all platforms for image processing and for inclusion into HTML documents on the World Wide Web. To create these formats, MATLAB renders the figure using the Z-buffer rendering method and the resulting bitmap is then saved to the specified file.

Options

This table summarizes options that you can specify for print. The second column also shows which tutorial sections contain more detailed information. The sections listed are located under Printing and Exporting Figures with MATLAB.

Option	Description
-adobecset	PostScript only. Use PostScript default character set encoding. See Early PostScript 1 Printers.
-append	PostScript only. Append figure to existing PostScript file. See Settings That Are Driver Specific.
-cmyk	PostScript only. Print with CMYK colors instead of RGB. See Setting CMYK Color.
-ddriver	Printing only. Printer driver to use. See Drivers table.
-dformat	Exporting only. Graphics format to use. See Graphics Format Files table.
-dsetup	Display the Print Setup dialog.
-fhandle	Handle of figure to print. Note that you cannot specify both this option and the -swindowtitle option. See Which Figure Is Printed.
-loose	PostScript and Ghostscript only. Use loose bounding box for PostScript. See Producing Uncropped Figures.
-noui	Suppress printing of user interface controls. See Excluding User Interface Controls.
-opengl	Render using the OpenGL algorithm. Note that you cannot specify this method in conjunction with -zbuffer or -painters. See Selecting a Renderer.
-painters	Render using the Painter's algorithm. Note that you cannot specify this method in conjunction with -zbuffer or -opengl. See Selecting a Renderer.
-Pprinter	Specify name of printer to use. See Selecting Printer.
-rnumber	PostScript, JPEG, PNG, and Ghostscript only. Specify resolution in dots per inch. Defaults to 90 for Simulink, 150 for figures in image formats and when printing in Z-buffer or OpenGL mode, screen resolution for Metafiles and 864 otherwise. Use -r0 to specify screen resolution. See Setting the Resolution.
-swindowtitle	Specify name of Simulink system window to print. Note that you cannot specify both this option and the -fhandle option. See Which Figure Is Printed.
-v	Windows only. Display the Windows Print dialog box. The v stands for "verbose mode."
-zbuffer	Render using the Z-buffer algorithm. Note that you cannot specify this method in conjunction with -opengl or -painters. See Selecting a Renderer.

Paper Sizes

MATLAB supports a number of standard paper sizes. You can select from the following list by setting the PaperType property of the figure or selecting a supported paper size from the Print dialog box.

Property Value	Size (Width-by-Height)
usletter	8.5-by-11 inches
uslegal	11-by-14 inches
tabloid	11-by-17 inches
A0	841-by-1189 mm
A1	594-by-841 mm
A2	420-by-594 mm
A3	297-by-420 mm
A4	210-by-297 mm
A5	148-by-210 mm
B0	1029-by-1456 mm
B1	728-by-1028 mm
B2	514-by-728 mm
B3	364-by-514 mm
B4	257-by-364 mm
B5	182-by-257 mm
arch-A	9-by-12 inches
arch-B	12-by-18 inches
arch-C	18-by-24 inches
arch-D	24-by-36 inches
arch-E	36-by-48 inches
A	8.5-by-11 inches
B	11-by-17 inches
C	17-by-22 inches
D	22-by-34 inches
E	34-by-43 inches

Printing Tips

This section includes information about specific printing issues.

Figures with Resize Functions

The print command produces a warning when you print a figure having a callback routine defined for the figure ResizeFcn. To avoid the warning, set the figure PaperPositionMode property to auto or select Match Figure Screen Size in the File->Page Setup dialog box.

Troubleshooting MS-Windows Printing

If you encounter problems such as segmentation violations, general protection faults, or application errors, or the output does not appear as you expect when using MS-Windows printer drivers, try the following:

• If your printer is PostScript compatible, print with one of the MATLAB built-in PostScript drivers. There are various PostScript device options that you can use with the print command: they all start with -dps.
• The behavior you are experiencing may occur only with certain versions of the print driver. Contact the print driver vendor for information on how to obtain and install a different driver.
• Try printing with one of the MATLAB built-in Ghostscript devices. These devices use Ghostscript to convert PostScript files into other formats, such as HP LaserJet, PCX, Canon BubbleJet, and so on.
• Copy the figure as a Windows Enhanced Metafile using the Edit-->Copy Figure menu item on the figure window menu or the print -dmeta option at the command line. You can then import the file into another application for printing.

• You can set copy options in the figure's File-->Preferences-->Copying Options dialog box. The Windows Enhanced Metafile clipboard format produces a better quality image than Windows Bitmap.

Printing MATLAB GUIs

You can generally obtain better results when printing a figure window that contains MATLAB uicontrols by setting these key properties:

• Set the figure PaperPositionMode property to auto. This ensures the printed version is the same size as the onscreen version. With PaperPositionMode set to auto MATLAB does not resize the figure to fit the current value of the PaperPosition. This is particularly important if you have specified a figure ResizeFcn, because if MATLAB resizes the figure during the print operation, the ResizeFcn is automatically called.

• To set PaperPositionMode on the current figure, use the command

  • set(gcf,'PaperPositionMode','auto')
    

• Set the figure InvertHardcopy property to off. By default, MATLAB changes the figure background color of printed output to white, but does not change the color of uicontrols. If you have set the background color, for example, to match the gray of the GUI devices, you must set InvertHardcopy to off to preserve the color scheme.

• To set InvertHardcopy on the current figure, use the command

  • set(gcf,'InvertHardcopy','off')
    

• Use a color device if you want lines and text that are in color on the screen to be written to the output file as colored objects. Black and white devices convert colored lines and text to black or white to provide the best contrast with the background and to avoid dithering.
• Use the print command's -loose option to prevent MATLAB from using a bounding box that is tightly wrapped around objects contained in the figure. This is important if you have intentionally used space between uicontrols or axes and the edge of the figure and you want to maintain this appearance in the printed output.

Notes on Printing Interpolated Shading with PostScript Drivers

MATLAB can print surface objects (such as graphs created with surf or mesh) using interpolated colors. However, only patch objects that are composed of triangular faces can be printed using interpolated shading.

Printed output is always interpolated in RGB space, not in the colormap colors. This means that if you are using indexed color and interpolated face coloring, the printed output can look different from what is displayed on screen.

PostScript files generated for interpolated shading contain the color information of the graphics object's vertices and require the printer to perform the interpolation calculations. This can take an excessive amount of time and in some cases, printers may actually time out before finishing the print job. One solution to this problem is to interpolate the data and generate a greater number of faces, which can then be flat shaded.

To ensure that the printed output matches what you see on the screen, print using the -zbuffer option. To obtain higher resolution (for example, to make text look better), use the -r option to increase the resolution. There is, however, a tradeoff between the resolution and the size of the created PostScript file, which can be quite large at higher resolutions. The default resolution of 150 dpi generally produces good results. You can reduce the size of the output file by making the figure smaller before printing it and setting the figure PaperPositionMode to auto, or by just setting the PaperPosition property to a smaller size.

Examples

Specifying the Figure to Print

You can print a noncurrent figure by specifying the figure's handle. If a figure has the title "Figure No. 2", its handle is 2. The syntax is

• print -fhandle 
  

This example prints the figure whose handle is 2, regardless of which figure is the current figure.

• print -f2
  

Note    You must use the -f option if the figure's handle is hidden (i.e., its HandleVisibility property is set to off).

This example saves the figure with the handle -f2 to a PostScript file named Figure2, which can be printed later.

• print -f2 -dps 'Figure2.ps'
  

If the figure uses noninteger handles, use the figure command to get its value, and then pass it in as the first argument.

• h = figure('IntegerHandle','off')
  print h -depson
  

You can also pass a figure handle as a variable to the function form of print. For example,

• h = figure; plot(1:4,5:8)
  print(h)
  

This example uses the function form of print to enable a filename to be passed in as a variable.

• filename = 'mydata';
  print('-f3', '-dpsc', filename);
  

(Because a filename is specified, the figure will be printed to a file.)

Specifying the Model to Print

To print a noncurrent Simulink model, use the -s option with the title of the window. For example, this command prints the Simulink window titled f14.

• print -sf14
  

If the window title includes any spaces, you must call the function form rather than the command form of print. For example, this command saves Simulink window title Thruster Control.

• print('-sThruster Control')
  

To print the current system, use

• print -s
  

For information about issues specific to printing Simulink windows, see the Simulink documentation.

Printing Figures at Screen Size

This example prints a surface plot with interpolated shading. Setting the current figure's (gcf) PaperPositionMode to auto enables you to resize the figure window and print it at the size you see on the screen. See Options and the previous section for information on the -zbuffer and -r200 options.

• surf(peaks)
  shading interp
  set(gcf,'PaperPositionMode','auto')
  print -dpsc2 -zbuffer -r200
  

For additional details, see Printing Images in the MATLAB Graphics documentation.

Batch Processing

You can use the function form of print to pass variables containing file names. For example, this for loop uses filenames stored in a cell array to create a series of graphs and prints each one with a different file name.

• fnames = {'file1', 'file2', 'file3'};
  for k=1:length(fnames)
      surf(peaks)
      print('-dtiff','-r200',fnames{k})
  end
  

Tiff Preview

The command

• print -depsc -tiff -r300 picture1
  

saves the current figure at 300 dpi, in a color Encapsulated PostScript file named picture1.eps. The -tiff option creates a 72 dpi TIFF preview, which many word processor applications can display on screen after you import the EPS file. This enables you to view the picture on screen within your word processor and print the document to a PostScript printer using a resolution of 300 dpi.

See Also

orient, figure

primes

printdlg

© 1994-2005 The MathWorks, Inc.