How can I change the color of the median line in boxchart?

I am creating a box plot using the "boxchart" function. How can I change the color of the median line?

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

It is not possible to change the colours, however it is possible to over-plot the median lines —

x = randn(5);                                   % Create Data

figure
hbx = boxchart(x);
xMdn = median(x);
boxw = hbx.BoxWidth;
xd = 1:numel(hbx.XData);
hold on
plot(0.5*boxw*[-1;1]+xd, [1;1]*xMdn, '-r')
hold off

% get(hbx)

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[Cris LaPierre]

Median line color is not an editable property in a boxchart. it is the same color as the box face color. It's prominence is determined by BoxFaceAlpha.

You can see the editable properties of a boxchart here.

[omid zandi]

Thanks, but i think it is one of drawbacks of this function, that should be considered in later versions of matlab.

[Star Strider]

As always, my pleasure!

You can Contact Support and submit an enhancement request.

.

[Cris LaPierre]

Also note there is a boxplot function. It is older, and you must have the Statistics and Machine Learning toolbox to use it. By default, the median line is red.

figure
x = randn(5);
boxplot(x)

It also creates the plot differently, so you are able to access some properties like the median line (see Tips section of the documentation page).

figure
boxplot(x);

% find Median lines and change color to green
ml = findobj(gca,'Tag','Median');
for m = 1:length(ml)
    ml(m).Color = 'g';
end

[Amelie]

I have a follow up question: Is it possible to exclude the median when plotting the boxchart? If so, how can I do it?

Many thanks for your help!

[Star Strider]

@Amelie —

I’m not certain it can be excluded, however it can be hidden —

x = randn(5);                                   % Create Data

figure
hbx = boxchart(x);
hbx.BoxMedianLineColor = 'g';                   % Change 'boxchart' Median Line Colour

figure
hbx = boxchart(x);
hbx.BoxMedianLineColor = 'none';                % Hide 'boxchart' Median Line

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