grid

Display or hide axes grid lines

Syntax

grid on

grid off

grid

grid minor

grid(visibility)

grid(target,___)

Description

grid on displays the major grid lines for the current axes returned by the gca command. Major grid lines extend from each tick mark.

grid off removes all grid lines from the current axes or chart.

grid toggles the visibility of the major grid lines.

grid minor toggles the visibility of the minor grid lines. Minor grid lines lie between the tick marks. Not all types of charts support minor grid lines.

grid(visibility) displays or hides the grid by specifying a visibility value. You can specify visibility as "on", "off", a logical value, or an OnOffSwitchState value.

grid(target,___) uses the axes or standalone visualization specified by target instead of the current axes. Specify target before all other arguments.

Examples

Display Grid Lines

Display the grid lines for a sine plot.

x = linspace(0,10);
y = sin(x);
plot(x,y)
grid on

Remove Grid Lines

Create a surface plot and remove the grid lines.

[X,Y,Z] = peaks; 
surf(X,Y,Z)
grid off

Display Major and Minor Grid Lines

Display the major and minor grid lines for a sine plot.

x = linspace(0,10);
y = sin(x);
plot(x,y)
grid on
grid minor

Display Grid Lines on Specific Axes

Starting in R2019b, you can display a tiling of plots using the tiledlayout and nexttile functions. Call the tiledlayout function to create a 2-by-1 tiled chart layout. Call the nexttile function to create the axes objects ax1 and ax2. Plot data into each axes. Then display grid lines in the bottom plot by passing ax2 to the grid function.

x = linspace(0,10);
y1 = sin(x);
y2 = sin(3*x);
tiledlayout(2,1)

% Top plot
ax1 = nexttile;
plot(ax1,x,y1)

% Bottom plot
ax2 = nexttile;
plot(ax2,x,y2)
grid(ax2,'on')

Input Arguments

visibility — Grid visibility

"on" | "off" | true or 1 | false or 0 | OnOffSwitchState value

Grid visibility, specified one of these values:

• "on" or "off" — A value of "on" displays the grid, and "off" hides it. You can also specify the character vectors 'on' or 'off'.

• Numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false) — A value of 1 or true displays the grid, and 0 or false hides it. (since R2024a)

• A matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState value — A value of matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.on displays the grid, and matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.off hides it. (since R2024a)

target — Target object

axes | standalone visualization | array of axes or standalone visualizations

Target object, specified as one of the following:

• Any type of axes object: an Axes, PolarAxes, or GeographicAxes object.

• A standalone visualization that has a GridVisible property. For example, a heatmap chart has a GridVisible property.

• An array of axes or standalone visualizations that belong to the same class. To determine the class, use the class function.

If you do not specify the target, then the grid function affects the graphics object returned by the gca command.

Tips

• When working with Cartesian axes, some axes properties affect the appearance of the grid lines. This table lists a subset of axes properties related to the grid lines.

  Axes Property	Description
  XTick, YTick, ZTick	Location of tick marks and major grid lines for each axis direction
  XGrid, YGrid, ZGrid	Display of major grid lines for each axis direction
  XMinorGrid, YMinorGrid, ZMinorGrid	Display of minor grid lines for each axis direction
  LineWidth	Line width of grid lines, axes box outline, and tick marks
  GridLineStyle	Major grid line style
  MinorGridLineStyle	Minor grid line style
  GridColor	Major grid line color
  MinorGridColor	Minor grid line color
  GridAlpha	Major grid line transparency
  MinorGridAlpha	Minor grid line transparency
  Layer	Location of grid lines in relation to the plotted data

• When working with polar axes, some polar axes properties affect the appearance of the grid lines. This table lists a subset of polar axes properties related to the grid lines.

  PolarAxes Property	Description
  ThetaTick, RTick	Location of tick marks and major grid lines for each axis direction
  ThetaGrid, RGrid	Display of major grid lines for each axis direction
  ThetaMinorGrid, RMinorGrid	Display of minor grid lines for each axis direction
  LineWidth	Width of outline, tick marks, and grid lines
  GridLineStyle	Major grid line style
  MinorGridLineStyle	Minor grid line style
  GridColor	Major grid line color
  MinorGridColor	Minor grid line color
  GridAlpha	Major grid line transparency
  MinorGridAlpha	Minor grid line transparency
  Layer	Location of grid lines in relation to the plotted data

• When working with geographic axes, some geographic axes properties affect the appearance of the grid lines. This table lists a subset of geographic axes properties related to the grid lines. Note that GeographicAxes objects do not support minor grid lines.

  GeographicAxes Property	Description
  Grid	Display of latitude and longitude grid lines
  LineWidth	Line width of grid lines, box outline, and tick marks
  GridLineStyle	Grid line style
  GridColor	Color of grid lines
  GridAlpha	Grid line transparency

Algorithms

The grid function sets these graphics object properties to either 'on' or 'off':

• XGrid, YGrid, and ZGrid when working with Cartesian Axes objects.

• ThetaGrid and RGrid when working with PolarAxes objects.

• Grid when working with GeographicAxes objects.

• GridVisible when working with other types of graphics objects, such as a HeatmapChart object.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2024a: Display or hide grid lines by specifying logical or OnOffSwitchState value

Display or hide the grid lines by specifying the visibility input argument as a logical value or as a matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState value. The values 1 and true are equivalent to "on", and 0 and false are equivalent to "off".

The values "on" and "off" are still supported.