stem3

Plot 3-D discrete sequence data

• 

Syntax

stem3(Z)

stem3(X,Y,Z)

stem3(___,"filled")

stem3(___,LineSpec)

stem3(tbl,xvar,yvar,zvar)

stem3(___,Name,Value)

stem3(ax,___)

h = stem3(___)

Description

Vector and Matrix Data

stem3(Z) plots entries in Z as stems extending from the xy-plane and terminating with circles at the entry values. The stem locations in the xy-plane are automatically generated.

stem3(X,Y,Z) plots entries in Z as stems extending from the xy-plane where X and Y specify the stem locations in the xy-plane. The inputs X, Y, and Z must be vectors or matrices of the same size.

stem3(___,"filled") fills the circles. Use this option with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

stem3(___,LineSpec) specifies the line style, marker symbol, and color.

Table Data

stem3(tbl,xvar,yvar,zvar) plots the variables xvar, yvar, and zvar from the table tbl. Specify one table variable for each dimension. (since R2022b)

Additional Options

stem3(___,Name,Value) modifies the stem chart using one or more name-value pair arguments.

stem3(ax,___) plots into the axes specified by ax instead of into the current axes (gca). The option, ax, can precede any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

h = stem3(___) returns the Stem object h.

Examples

Row Vector Input

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $$-\pi /2$$ and $$\pi /2$$ with a row vector input.

figure
X = linspace(-pi/2,pi/2,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z)

stem3 plots elements of Z against the same y value at equally space x values.

Column Vector Input

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $$-\pi /2$$ and $$\pi /2$$ with a column vector input.

figure
X = linspace(-pi/2,pi/2,40)';
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z)

stem3 plots elements of Z against the same x value at equally space y values.

Matrix Input

Create a 3-D stem plot of sine and cosine values between $$-\pi /2$$ and $$\pi /2$$ with a matrix input.

figure
X = linspace(-pi/2,pi/2,40);
Z = [sin(X); cos(X)];
stem3(Z)

stem3 plots each row of Z against the same y value at equally space x values.

Specify Stem Locations with Vector Inputs

Create a 3-D stem plot and specify the stem locations along a curve. Use view to adjust the angle of the axes in the figure.

figure
X = linspace(-5,5,60);
Y = cos(X);
Z = X.^2;
stem3(X,Y,Z)
view(-8,30)

X and Y determine the stem locations. Z determines the marker heights.

Specify Stem Locations with Matrix Inputs

Create a 3-D stem plot with matrix data and specify the stem locations in the xy-plane.

figure
[X,Y] = meshgrid(0:.1:1);
Z = exp(X+Y);
stem3(X,Y,Z)

X and Y determine the stem locations. Z determines the marker heights.

Fill in Markers

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $$-\pi$$ and $$\pi$$ and fill in the markers.

X = linspace(-pi,pi,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z,'filled')

Line Style, Marker Symbol, and Color Options

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $$-\pi$$ and $$\pi$$. Use a dashed line style for the stem, set the marker symbols to stars, and set the color to magenta.

figure
X = linspace(-pi,pi,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z,'--*m')

To specify only two of the three LineSpec options, omit the third option from the character vector. For example, '*m' sets the marker symbol and the color and uses the default line style.

Line Style, Marker Symbol, and Color Options

Create a 3-D stem plot and specify the stem locations along a circle. Set the stem to a dotted line style, the marker symbols to stars, and the color to magenta.

figure
theta = linspace(0,2*pi);
X = cos(theta);
Y = sin(theta);
Z = theta;
stem3(X,Y,Z,':*m')

X and Y determine the stem locations. Z determines the marker heights.

Additional Style Options

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $$-\pi$$ and $$\pi$$. Set the marker symbols to squares with green faces and magenta edges.

figure
X = linspace(-pi,pi,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z,'Marker','s',...
     'MarkerEdgeColor','m',...
     'MarkerFaceColor','g')

Plot Data from a Table

Since R2022b

A convenient way to plot data from a table is to pass the table to the stem3 function and specify the variables to plot.

Read weather.csv as a timetable tbl. Then display the first three rows of the table.

tbl = readtimetable("weather.csv");
head(tbl,3)

            Time            WindDirection    WindSpeed    Humidity    Temperature    RainInchesPerMinute    CumulativeRainfall    PressureHg    PowerLevel    LightIntensity
    ____________________    _____________    _________    ________    ___________    ___________________    __________________    __________    __________    ______________

    25-Oct-2021 00:00:09         46               1          84          49.2                 0                     0               29.96          4.14             0       
    25-Oct-2021 00:01:09         45             1.6          84          49.2                 0                     0               29.96         4.139             0       
    25-Oct-2021 00:02:09         36             2.2          84          49.2                 0                     0               29.96         4.138             0       

Plot the Time variable on the x-axis, the Temperature variable on the y-axis, and the CumulativeRainfall variable on the z-axis. Return the Stem object as h. Notice that the axis labels match the table variable names.

h = stem3(tbl,"Time","Temperature","CumulativeRainfall");

Change the color of the plot to a shade of red by setting the Color property.

h.Color = [0.7 0 0.2];

Stem Plot in Specific Axes

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. Create separate stem plots in the axes by specifying the axes object as the first argument to stem3.

X = linspace(-2,2,50);
Y = X.^3;
Z = exp(X);
tiledlayout(2,1)

% Top plot
ax1 = nexttile;
stem(ax1,X,Z)

% Bottom plot
ax2 = nexttile;  
stem3(ax2,X,Y,Z)

Modify Stem Series After Creation

Create a 3-D stem plot and return the stem series object.

X = linspace(0,2);
Y = X.^3;
Z = exp(X).*cos(Y);
h = stem3(X,Y,Z,'filled');

Change the color to magenta and set the marker face color to yellow. Use view to adjust the angle of the axes in the figure. Use dot notation to set properties.

h.Color = 'm';
h.MarkerFaceColor = 'y';
view(-10,35)

Input Arguments

Z — Data sequence to display

vector or matrix

Data sequence to display, specified as a vector or matrix. stem3 plots each element in Z as a stem extending from the xy-plane and terminating at the data value.

• If Z is a row vector, stem3 plots all elements against the same y value at equally spaced x values.

• If Z is a column vector, stem3 plots all elements against the same x value at equally spaced y values.

• If Z is a matrix, stem3 plots each row of Z against the same y value at equally spaced x values.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical | categorical | datetime | duration

X — Locations to plot values of Z

vector or matrix

Locations to plot values of Z, specified as a vector or a matrix. Inputs X, Y and Z must be vectors or matrices of the same size.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical | categorical | datetime | duration

Y — Locations to plot values of Z

vector or matrix

Locations to plot values of Z, specified as a vector or a matrix. Inputs X, Y and Z must be vectors or matrices of the same size.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical | categorical | datetime | duration

LineSpec — Line style, marker, and color

string scalar | character vector

Line style, marker, and color, specified as a string scalar or character vector containing symbols. The symbols can appear in any order. You do not need to specify all three characteristics (line style, marker, and color). For example, if you omit the line style and specify the marker, then the plot shows only the marker and no line.

Example: "--or" is a red dashed line with circle markers.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
"o"	Circle
"+"	Plus sign
"*"	Asterisk
"."	Point
"x"	Cross
"_"	Horizontal line
"|"	Vertical line
"square"	Square
"diamond"	Diamond
"^"	Upward-pointing triangle
"v"	Downward-pointing triangle
">"	Right-pointing triangle
"<"	Left-pointing triangle
"pentagram"	Pentagram
"hexagram"	Hexagram

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]

tbl — Source table

table | timetable

Source table containing the data to plot, specified as a table or a timetable.

zvar — Table variable containing z-coordinates

string scalar | character vector | pattern | numeric scalar | logical vector | vartype()

Table variable containing the z-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table. Specify one variable only.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable name: A string scalar or character vector. A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.	"A" or 'A' — A variable named A "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.	3 — The third variable from the table [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.	vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

The table variable you specify can contain numeric, logical, categorical, datetime, or duration values.

Example: stem3(tbl,"x","y","z") specifies the table variable named z for the z-coordinates.

xvar — Table variable containing x-coordinates

string scalar | character vector | pattern | numeric scalar | logical vector | vartype()

Table variable containing the x-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table. Specify one variable only.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable name: A string scalar or character vector. A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.	"A" or 'A' — A variable named A "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.	3 — The third variable from the table [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.	vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

The table variable you specify can contain numeric, logical, categorical, datetime, or duration values.

Example: stem3(tbl,"x","y","z") specifies the table variable named x for the x-coordinates.

yvar — Table variable containing y-coordinates

string scalar | character vector | pattern | numeric scalar | logical vector | vartype()

Table variable containing the y-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table. Specify one variable only.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable name: A string scalar or character vector. A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.	"A" or 'A' — A variable named A "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.	3 — The third variable from the table [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.	vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

The table variable you specify can contain numeric, logical, categorical, datetime, or duration values.

Example: stem3(tbl,"x","y","z") specifies the table variable named y for the y-coordinates.

ax — Axes object

Axes object

Axes object. If you do not specify the axes, then stem plots into the current axes.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: "LineStyle",":","MarkerFaceColor","red" plots the stem as a dotted line and sets the marker face color to red.

The properties listed here are only a subset. For a complete list, see Stem Properties.

LineStyle — Line style

"-" (default) | "--" | ":" | "-." | "none"

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line
"none"	No line	No line

LineWidth — Line width of stem and marker edge

0.5 (default) | positive value

Line width of stem and marker edge, specified as a positive value in point units.

Example: 0.75

Color — Stem color

[0 0 0] (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r" | "g" | "b" | ...

Stem color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• 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 string scalar or character vector 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. Therefore, 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"
"none"	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB^® uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	"#0072BD"
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	"#D95319"
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	"#EDB120"
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	"#7E2F8E"
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	"#77AC30"
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	"#4DBEEE"
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	"#A2142F"

Example: "blue"

Example: [0 0 1]

Example: "#0000FF"

Marker — Marker symbol

"o" (default) | "+" | "*" | "." | "x" | ...

Marker symbol, specified as one of the markers listed in this table.

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
"o"	Circle
"+"	Plus sign
"*"	Asterisk
"."	Point
"x"	Cross
"_"	Horizontal line
"|"	Vertical line
"square"	Square
"diamond"	Diamond
"^"	Upward-pointing triangle
"v"	Downward-pointing triangle
">"	Right-pointing triangle
"<"	Left-pointing triangle
"pentagram"	Pentagram
"hexagram"	Hexagram
"none"	No markers	Not applicable

Example: "+"

Example: "diamond"

MarkerSize — Marker size

6 (default) | positive value

Marker size, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch.

MarkerEdgeColor — Marker outline color

"auto" (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r" | "g" | "b" | ...

Marker outline color, specified as "auto", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of "auto" uses the same color as the Color property.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• 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 string scalar or character vector 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. Therefore, 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"
"none"	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	"#0072BD"
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	"#D95319"
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	"#EDB120"
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	"#7E2F8E"
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	"#77AC30"
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	"#4DBEEE"
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	"#A2142F"

MarkerFaceColor — Marker fill color

"none" (default) | "auto" | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r" | "g" | "b" | ...

Marker fill color, specified as "auto", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The "auto" option uses the same color as the Color property of the parent axes. If you specify "auto" and the axes plot box is invisible, the marker fill color is the color of the figure.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• 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 string scalar or character vector 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. Therefore, 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"
"none"	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	"#0072BD"
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	"#D95319"
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	"#EDB120"
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	"#7E2F8E"
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	"#77AC30"
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	"#4DBEEE"
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	"#A2142F"

Output Arguments

h — Stem object

Stem

Stem object. This is a unique identifier, which you can use to modify the properties of the Stem object after it is created.

Extended Capabilities

GPU Arrays

Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

The stem3 function supports GPU array input with these usage notes and limitations:

• This function accepts GPU arrays, but does not run on a GPU.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Distributed Arrays

Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• This function operates on distributed arrays, but executes in the client MATLAB.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2022b: Expanded data type support

The x, y, and z input arguments can be any numeric, logical, datetime, duration, or categorical values. In previous releases, only numeric and logical values were supported.

R2022b: Pass tables directly to stem3

Create plots by passing a table to the stem3 function followed by the variables you want to plot. When you specify your data as a table, the axis labels and the legend (if present) are automatically labeled using the table variable names.