text (MATLAB Functions)

Create text object in current axes

Syntax

text(x,y,'string')
text(x,y,z,'string')
text(...'PropertyName',PropertyValue...)
h = text(...)

Description

text is the low-level function for creating text graphics objects. Use text to place character strings at specified locations.

text(x,y,'string') adds the string in quotes to the location specified by the point (x,y).

text(x,y,z,'string') adds the string in 3-D coordinates.

text(x,y,z,'string','PropertyName',PropertyValue....) adds the string in quotes to the location defined by the coordinates and uses the values for the specified text properties. See the text property list section at the end of this page for a list of text properties.

text('PropertyName',PropertyValue....) omits the coordinates entirely and specifies all properties using property name/property value pairs.

h = text(...) returns a column vector of handles to text objects, one handle per object. All forms of the text function optionally return this output argument.

See the String property for a list of symbols, including Greek letters.

Remarks

Specify the text location coordinates (the x, y, and z arguments) in the data units of the current axes (see "Examples"). The Extent, VerticalAlignment, and HorizontalAlignment properties control the positioning of the character string with regard to the text location point.

If the coordinates are vectors, text writes the string at all locations defined by the list of points. If the character string is an array the same length as x, y, and z, text writes the corresponding row of the string array at each point specified.

When specifying strings for multiple text objects, the string can be

A cell array of strings
A padded string matrix
A string vector using vertical slash characters ('|') as separators.

Each element of the specified string array creates a different text object.

When specifying the string for a single text object, cell arrays of strings and padded string matrices result in a text object with a multiline string, while vertical slash characters are not interpreted as separators and result in a single line string containing vertical slashes.

text is a low-level function that accepts property name/property value pairs as input arguments. However, the convenience form,

```
text(x,y,z,'string')
```

is equivalent to

text('Position',[x,y,z],'String','string')

You can specify other properties only as property name/property value pairs. See the text property list at the end of this page for a description of each property. You can specify properties as property name/property value pairs, structure arrays, and cell arrays (see the set and get reference pages for examples of how to specify these data types).

text does not respect the setting of the figure or axes NextPlot property. This allows you to add text objects to an existing axes without setting hold to on.

Examples

The statements

plot(0:pi/20:2*pi,sin(0:pi/20:2*pi))
text(pi,0,' \leftarrow sin(\pi)','FontSize',18)

annotate the point at (pi,0) with the string sin()

The statement

text(x,y,'\ite^{i\omega\tau} = cos(\omega\tau) + i sin(\omega\tau)')

uses embedded TeX sequences to produce

Object Hierarchy

Setting Default Properties

You can set default text properties on the axes, figure, and root levels:

set(0,'DefaulttextProperty',PropertyValue...)
set(gcf,'DefaulttextProperty',PropertyValue...)
set(gca,'DefaulttextProperty',PropertyValue...)

Where Property is the name of the text property and PropertyValue is the value you are specifying. Use set and get to access text properties.

See Also

annotation gtext, int2str, num2str, title, xlabel, ylabel, zlabel

Object Creation Functions for related functions

Text Properties for property descriptions

texlabel Text Properties