Different boxplots with different colors

Hello. I created these 6 boxplot, now I would like to make the points of the 3 boxplots that have "left" in their name on the x-axis in one color, and the points of the 3 boxplots that have"right" in the name on the x-axis in another color.

Here is my code :

groupLR = [  ones(size(IntCapDataMedianSubtractNCL')); 
         2 * ones(size(IntCapDataMedianSubtractNCR'));
         3 * ones(size(IntCapDataMedianSubtractPCL'));
         4 * ones(size(IntCapDataMedianSubtractPCR'));
         5 * ones(size(IntCapDataMedianSubtractTL'));
         6 * ones(size(IntCapDataMedianSubtractTR'))];
      
IntCapDataMedianSubtractConLR=[IntCapDataMedianSubtractNCL'; IntCapDataMedianSubtractNCR'; ...
                               IntCapDataMedianSubtractPCL'; IntCapDataMedianSubtractPCR'; ...
                               IntCapDataMedianSubtractTL'; IntCapDataMedianSubtractTR']
j
IntCapDataMedianSubtractConL=[IntCapDataMedianSubtractNCL'; IntCapDataMedianSubtractPCL'; ...
                              IntCapDataMedianSubtractTL'];
IntCapDataMedianSubtractConR=[IntCapDataMedianSubtractNCR'; IntCapDataMedianSubtractPCR';  ...
                              IntCapDataMedianSubtractTR'];

figure
boxplot(IntCapDataMedianSubtractConLR,groupLR) ; 
title('IntCapDataMedianSubtractConLR')
set(gca,'XTickLabel',{'NC Left','NC Right','PC Left','PC Right','T Left','T right'})
hold on
[C, ~, ic]=unique([groupLR],'stable');
scatter(ic,[IntCapDataMedianSubtractConLR],'filled','MarkerFaceAlpha',0.6','jitter','on','jitterAmount', 0.15);
xlabel('Condition');
ylabel('"Volume"');

Thank you for your help

[dpb]

Use the 'ColorGroup' and 'Colors' named value-pair arguments.

[Nicole Andreoli]

Thank you for your help

Answer 1

[Sourabh Kondapaka]

Hi,

You can use “findobj()” function to access properties of the plot and to modify the plot you can use “patch()” to update the color of each box within the boxplot.

Here I am storing the x-axis tick labels in an array and then using it to generate colors based on the values in this array.

The two set of colors I’m choosing are:

• If the name on X-axis tick label is “left” I’m choosing red color.

• If the name on X-axis is tick label “right” I’m choosing blue color

Replace the below code with lines from “figure” to “set()” in the code you had uploaded.

xAxisTickLabels = {'NC Left','NC Right','PC Left','PC Right','T Left','T right'};
colorsForPlotting = cell(size(xAxisTickLabels));

for i = 1:size(xAxisTickLabels,2)    
    if contains(xAxisTickLabels{i},'Left')
        colorsForPlotting{i} = 'r';
    else
        colorsForPlotting{i} = 'b';
    end        
end

boxplot(k, x);
set(gca,'XTickLabel',xAxisTickLabels)
h = findobj(gca,'Tag','Box');
for j=1:length(h)
    patch(get(h(j),'XData'),get(h(j),'YData'),colorsForPlotting{j},'FaceAlpha',0.15);
end

Above lines of code should replace lines from “figure” to “set()” in the code you had added.

Below code gives a complete picture for random values.

k = randn(5,5) + 10;
xAxisTickLabels = {'NC Left','NC Right','PC Left','PC Right','T Left','T right'};
colorsForPlotting = cell(size(xAxisTickLabels));
 
x = 1:5;
 
for i = 1:size(xAxisTickLabels,2)    
    if contains(xAxisTickLabels{i},'Left')
        colorsForPlotting{i} = 'r';
    else
        colorsForPlotting{i} = 'b';
    end        
end
 
 
boxplot(k, x);
set(gca,'XTickLabel',xAxisTickLabels)
h = findobj(gca,'Tag','Box');
for j=1:length(h)
patch(get(h(j),'XData'),get(h(j),'YData'),colorsForPlotting{j},'FaceAlpha',.15);
end

And the output is :

A similar question has been answered here

[Nicole Andreoli]

Thank you for your help, I managed to do it !

Do you also know how to change the colors of the points, instead of the color of the boxplot?