Intuitive RGB color values from XKCD

RGB triplets for 949 colors, by how they're perceived on a computer monitor and their common names.
4.6K Downloads
Updated Mon, 12 Jun 2017 17:38:35 +0000

View License

This function returns the RGB triplet for almost any color. And unlike the way colors are somewhat officially defined (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors), this data set describes returns values for the ways that colors are actually perceived on computer monitors. Color names are intuitive because they are based on a survey of over 200,000 user sessions, wherein respondents were shown colors and asked to fill in their word for that color. You won't find "puke green" on Wikipedia's list of web colors, despite the fact that it's a color name that people use and understand.

Data come from an XKCD survey described here: http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/
A chart of available colors and their most common names can be found here: http://xkcd.com/color/rgb/

Syntax
RGB = rgb('Color Name')
RGB = rgb('Color Name 1','Color Name 2',...,'Color Name N')
RGB = rgb({'Color Name 1','Color Name 2',...,'Color Name N'})

Description
RGB = rgb('Color Name') returns the RGB triplet for a color described by 'Color Name'.

RGB = rgb('Color Name 1','Color Name 2',...,'Color Name N') returns an N by 3 matrix containing RGB triplets for each color name.

RGB = rgb({'Color Name 1','Color Name 2',...,'Color Name N'}) accepts list of color names as a character array.

Cite As

Chad Greene (2024). Intuitive RGB color values from XKCD (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/46872-intuitive-rgb-color-values-from-xkcd), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R2012b
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!

XKCD_RGB/html/

Version Published Release Notes
1.5.0.0

The rgb data are now included in the zip file.

1.4.0.0

Fixed a bug in the installation script. Installation is now performed fully within the rgb function.

1.3.0.0

Included hex2rgb function and improved error handling.

1.2.0.0

Now supports multiple inputs and offers help for misspelled inputs.

1.1.0.0

Link to hex2rgb, rgb2hex.

1.0.0.0