polar

(Not recommended) Polar coordinate plot

polar is not recommended. Use polarplot instead. For information on updating your code, see Version History.

Syntax

polar(theta,rho)

polar(theta,rho,LineSpec)

polar(ax,___)

ln = polar(___)

Description

polar(theta,rho) plots a line in polar coordinates, with theta indicating the angle in radians and rho indicating the radius value for each point. theta and rho must be the same size.

polar(theta,rho,LineSpec) specifies the line style, marker symbol, and color for the lines drawn in the polar plot.

polar(ax,___) plots into the specified axes instead of the current axes (gca).

ln = polar(___) returns the Line object used to create the polar plot. Use ln to modify the polar plot after it is created. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.

Examples

Create Polar Plot

Create a polar plot using a dashed red line.

theta = 0:0.01:2*pi;
rho = sin(2*theta).*cos(2*theta);
polar(theta,rho,"--r")

Input Arguments

theta — Angle values

vector | matrix

Angle values, specified as a vector or matrix. Specify the values in radians.

rho — Radius values

vector | matrix

Radius values, specified as a vector or matrix.

Negative rho values reflect through the origin, rotating by pi (since (theta,rho) transforms to (rho*cos(theta),rho*sin(theta))). If you want different behavior, you can manipulate rho prior to plotting. For example, you can set rho equal to max(0,rho) or abs(rho).

LineSpec — Line style, marker, and color

string scalar | character vector

Line style, marker, and color, specified as a string scalar or character vector containing symbols. The symbols can appear in any order. You do not need to specify all three characteristics (line style, marker, and color). For example, if you omit the line style and specify the marker, then the plot shows only the marker and no line.

Example: "--or" is a red dashed line with circle markers.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
"o"	Circle
"+"	Plus sign
"*"	Asterisk
"."	Point
"x"	Cross
"_"	Horizontal line
"|"	Vertical line
"square"	Square
"diamond"	Diamond
"^"	Upward-pointing triangle
"v"	Downward-pointing triangle
">"	Right-pointing triangle
"<"	Left-pointing triangle
"pentagram"	Pentagram
"hexagram"	Hexagram

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]

ax — Target axes

Axes object

Target axes, specified as an Axes object. If you do not specify the axes, MATLAB^® plots into the current axes or it creates an Axes object if one does not exist. polar does not support plotting into PolarAxes objects.

Extended Capabilities

GPU Arrays

Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

The polar function supports GPU array input with these usage notes and limitations:

• This function accepts GPU arrays, but does not run on a GPU.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Distributed Arrays

Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• This function operates on distributed arrays, but executes in the client MATLAB.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2016a: Not recommended

polar is not recommended. Use polarplot instead. There are no plans to remove polar.

The polarplot function draws one or more chart lines in a PolarAxes object, which has more relevant customization options than the Axes object used in polar. For example, you can change the units of the polar plot by setting the ThetaAxisUnits property of the PolarAxes object.

This table shows some typical uses of polar and how to update your code to use polarplot instead.

Objective	Not Recommended	Recommended	Differences
Plot multiple lines on the same axes.	figure hold on polar(theta1,rho1) ... polar(thetaN,rhoN)	polarplot(theta1,rho1,...,thetaN,rhoN)	polar accepts only one pair of theta and rho inputs. polarplot accepts one or more pairs of theta and rho inputs.
Specify the plot appearance.	polar(theta,rho,LineSpec)	polarplot(theta,rho,LineSpec) or polarplot(theta,rho,Name,Value)	polar accepts the LineSpec input argument to set the line style, marker symbol, and color of the plotted line. polarplot accepts either the LineSpec input argument to set the line style, marker symbol, and color of the plotted lines, or name-value arguments to set any properties of the plotted lines. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.
Specify the target axes.	polar(ax,__)	polarplot(pax,__)	polar accepts an Axes target axes. polarplot accepts a PolarAxes target axes.