WordCloudChart Properties

Control word cloud chart appearance and behavior

WordCloudChart properties control the appearance and behavior of a WordCloudChart object. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the word cloud chart.

Title

Title — Text displayed above word cloud chart in figure

'' (default) | character array | cell array of character vectors | string | cell array of strings | numeric value | categorical array

Text displayed above word cloud chart in figure, specified as a character array, cell array of character vectors, scalar string, cell array of strings, a numeric value, or a categorical array. If you specify this property as a categorical array, then MATLAB^® uses the values in the array, not the full set of categories. You can also use the title function to set this value.

Example: "Word Cloud"

Data Types: string | char | cell

TitleFontName — Font used for title text in the word cloud chart

'Helvetica' (default) | character vector | string

Font used for title text in the word cloud chart, specified as a string or character vector. To display and print properly, the font name must be a font that your system supports. The default font depends on the specific operating system and locale.

Example: 'Cambria'

Data Types: char | string

Color and Styling

Color — Word color

RGB triplet | character vector containing a color name | matrix

Word color, specified as an RGB triplet, a character vector containing a color name, or an N-by-3 matrix where N is the length of WordData. If Color is a matrix, then each row corresponds to an RGB triplet for the corresponding word in WordData.

RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]	"#FF0000"
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]	"#00FF00"
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]	"#0000FF"
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]	"#00FFFF"
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]	"#FF00FF"
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]	"#FFFF00"
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]	"#000000"
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]	"#FFFFFF"

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

Palette	Palette Colors
"gem" — Light theme default Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default.
"glow" — Dark theme default

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

HighlightColor — Word highlight color

RGB triplet | character vector containing a color name

Word highlight color, specified as an RGB triplet, or a character vector containing a color name. The software highlights the largest words with this color.

RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]	"#FF0000"
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]	"#00FF00"
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]	"#0000FF"
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]	"#00FFFF"
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]	"#FF00FF"
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]	"#FFFF00"
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]	"#000000"
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]	"#FFFFFF"

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

Palette	Palette Colors
"gem" — Light theme default Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default.
"glow" — Dark theme default

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

FontName — Font used for text in the word cloud chart

'Helvetica' (default) | character vector | string

Font used for text in the word cloud chart, specified as a string or character vector. To display and print properly, the font name must be a font that your system supports. The default font depends on the specific operating system and locale.

Example: 'Cambria'

Data Types: char | string

MaxDisplayWords — Maximum number of words to display

100 (default) | nonnegative integer

Maximum number of words to display, specified as a non-negative integer. The software displays the MaxDisplayWords largest words.

Box — Axes box outline

'off' (default) | 'on'

Axes box outline, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• 'off' — Do not display the box outline around the axes.

• 'on' — Display the box outline around the axes.

Example: 'on'

Shape — Shape of word cloud

'oval' (default) | 'rectangle'

Shape of word cloud chart, specified as 'oval' or 'rectangle'.

Example: 'rectangle'

LayoutNum — Word placement layout

1 (default) | nonnegative integer

Word placement layout, specified as a nonnegative integer. If you repeatedly call wordcloud with the same inputs, then the word placement layouts will be the same each time. To get different word placement layouts, use different values of LayoutNum.

SizePower — Power to apply to SizeData

0.5 (default) | positive scalar

Power to apply to SizeData, specified as a positive scalar. The software displays words with sizes given by SizeData .^ SizePower.

Example: 2

Data

WordData — Word data

"" (default) | string vector | cell array of character vectors

Word data, specified as a string vector, or a cell array of character vectors.

Example: ["one" "two" "three"]

Data Types: string | cell

SizeData — Size data

[] (default) | numeric vector

Size data, specified as a numeric vector.

Example: [0.1 0.2 0.3]

WordVariable — Word variable in source table

character vector

Word variable in the source table, specified as a character vector.

Data Types: char

SizeVariable — Size variable in source table

character vector

Size variable in the source table, specified as a character vector.

Data Types: char

SourceTable — Source table

table

Source table containing word and size data.

Data Types: table

Position

OuterPosition — Size and position of word cloud chart within its parent

[0 0 1 1] (default) | 1-by-4 numeric vector

Size and position of word cloud chart within its parent, specified as a 1-by-4 numeric vector of the form [left,bottom,width,height]. This includes labels and margins. The default value of [0 0 1 1] includes the whole interior of the container.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

InnerPosition — Inner size and position

[0 0 1 1] (default) | 1-by-4 numeric vector

Inner size and position of the word cloud within the parent container (typically a figure, panel, or tab) returned as a 1-by-4 numeric vector of the form [left bottom width height].

• The left and bottom elements define the distance from the lower left corner of the container to the lower left corner of the word cloud.

• The width and height elements are the word cloud dimensions.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

Position — Inner size and position

four element vector

Inner size and position of the word cloud within the parent container (typically a figure, panel, or tab) specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. This property is equivalent to the InnerPosition property.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

PositionConstraint — Position to hold constant

"outerposition" | "innerposition"

Position property to hold constant when adding, removing, or changing decorations, specified as one of the following values:

• "outerposition" — The OuterPosition property remains constant when you add, remove, or change decorations such as a title or an axis label. If any positional adjustments are needed, MATLAB adjusts the InnerPosition property.

• "innerposition" — The InnerPosition property remains constant when you add, remove, or change decorations such as a title or an axis label. If any positional adjustments are needed, MATLAB adjusts the OuterPosition property.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

Units — Units used by OuterPosition property

'normalized' (default) | 'points' | 'pixels' | 'characters' | 'inches' | 'centimeters'

Units used by OuterPosition property, specified as 'normalized', 'points', 'pixels', 'characters', 'inches', or 'centimeters'.

Layout — Layout options

empty LayoutOptions array (default) | TiledChartLayoutOptions object | GridLayoutOptions object

Layout options, specified as a TiledChartLayoutOptions or GridLayoutOptions object. This property is useful when the chart is either in a tiled chart layout or a grid layout.

To position the chart within the grid of a tiled chart layout, set the Tile and TileSpan properties on the TiledChartLayoutOptions object. For example, consider a 3-by-3 tiled chart layout. The layout has a grid of tiles in the center, and four tiles along the outer edges. In practice, the grid is invisible and the outer tiles do not take up space until you populate them with axes or charts.

This code places the chart c in the third tile of the grid.

c.Layout.Tile = 3;

To make the chart span multiple tiles, specify the TileSpan property as a two-element vector. For example, this chart spans 2 rows and 3 columns of tiles.

c.Layout.TileSpan = [2 3];

To place the chart in one of the surrounding tiles, specify the Tile property as "north", "south", "east", or "west". For example, setting the value to "east" places the chart in the tile to the right of the grid.

c.Layout.Tile = "east";

To place the chart into a layout within an app, specify this property as a GridLayoutOptions object. For more information about working with grid layouts in apps, see uigridlayout.

If the chart is not a child of either a tiled chart layout or a grid layout (for example, if it is a child of a figure or panel) then this property is empty and has no effect.

Visible — State of visibility

"on" (default) | on/off logical value

State of visibility, specified as "on" or "off", or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of "on" is equivalent to true, and "off" is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• "on" — Display the object.

• "off" — Hide the object without deleting it. You still can access the properties of an invisible object.

Parent/Child

Parent — Parent container

Figure object | Panel object | Tab object | TiledChartLayout object | GridLayout object

Parent container, specified as a Figure, Panel, Tab, TiledChartLayout, or GridLayout object.

HandleVisibility — Visibility of object handle

"on" (default) | "off" | "callback"

Visibility of the object handle in the Children property of the parent, specified as one of these values:

• "on" — Object handle is always visible.

• "off" — Object handle is invisible at all times. This option is useful for preventing unintended changes by another function. Set HandleVisibility to "off" to temporarily hide the handle during the execution of that function.

• "callback" — Object handle is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command line, but permits callback functions to access it.

If the object is not listed in the Children property of the parent, then functions that obtain object handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties cannot return it. Examples of such functions include the get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close functions.

Hidden object handles are still valid. Set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to "on" to list all object handles regardless of their HandleVisibility property setting.

Version History

Introduced in R2017b

R2020a: ActivePositionProperty is not recommended

Starting in R2020a, setting or getting ActivePositionProperty is not recommended. Use the PositionConstraint property instead.

There are no plans to remove ActivePositionProperty at this time, but the property is no longer listed when you call the set, get, or properties functions on the chart object.

To update your code, make these changes:

• Replace all instances of ActivePositionProperty with PositionConstraint.

• Replace all references to the "position" option with the "innerposition" option.