`xticklabels`

Gets or sets the text of the x-axis tick labels.

Category: Graphics > Formatting and Annotation

Syntax

xticklabels(labels)

Sets the labels, a cell array or string array with one entry per tick.

lbl = xticklabels

Returns the current labels as a cell array.

xticklabels('auto')

Goes back to automatically generated labels.

xticklabels(ax, ___)

Acts on the axes ax.

Description

Labels are matched to the ticks given by xticks, so set the tick positions first. Replacing the numbers by names is the main use, for example weekdays or categories on a bar chart.

The labels live in the XTickLabel property of the axes. Setting them by hand switches XTickLabelMode to manual.

Input arguments

labels: Text for each tick, in order. If there are fewer labels than ticks, they repeat.

Output arguments

lbl: Cell array with the current labels.

Example

Names instead of numbers

bar([4 7 3])
xticks(1:3)
xticklabels({'low', 'mid', 'high'})
xticklabels

Output

ans = 3×1 cell

    {'low' }
    {'mid' }
    {'high'}

xticklabels