bar — Create bar charts in MATLAB and RunMat.
bar creates vertical bar charts from vector or matrix-style inputs. It returns a bar handle and supports grouped/stacked forms through the shared MATLAB/RunMat plotting handle-property system.
Syntax
h = bar(Y)
h = bar(Y, style)
h = bar(Y, Name, Value, ...)
h = bar(X, Y)
h = bar(X, Y, style)
h = bar(X, Y, Name, Value, ...)Inputs
| Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Y | NumericArray | Yes | — | Bar heights as a vector or matrix. |
style | StyleSpec | Yes | — | Layout/style token such as 'stacked' or color shorthand. |
props | Any | Variadic | — | Name/value style arguments. |
X | NumericArray | Yes | — | Category positions for bars. |
Returns
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
h | NumericScalar | Handle to the first rendered bar series. |
Errors
| Identifier | When | Message |
|---|---|---|
RunMat:bar:InvalidArgument | Bar input arrays, style tokens, or name/value arguments are invalid. | bar: invalid argument |
RunMat:bar:Internal | Renderer/GPU conversion fails while building bar geometry. | bar: internal operation failed |
How bar works
- Vector inputs create a single bar series with implicit category positions.
- Matrix inputs support grouped and stacked bar-style rendering workflows.
- The returned value is a bar handle that can be queried and updated through
getandset. - Display names, bar width, and face color participate in the shared plotting object/property model.
- RunMat prefers GPU-backed rendering when supported input/layout combinations are present, while preserving the same bar semantics on fallback paths.
Does RunMat run bar on the GPU?
Bar rendering shares the same plotting architecture as the rest of the plotting stack.
GPU memory and residency
bar preserves GPU residency where the bar geometry pipeline can consume exported buffers directly. Fallback rendering gathers once and preserves the same grouping/stacking semantics.
Examples
Create a basic bar chart from a vector
values = [3 5 2 9];
bar(values);Create grouped bars from a matrix
Y = [3 5 2; 4 6 1; 5 4 3];
bar(Y);Style a bar object and label it for the legend
h = bar([2 4 1 5]);
set(h, 'FaceColor', 'g', 'DisplayName', 'counts');
legend;Grouped category comparison
categories = {'Q1', 'Q2', 'Q3', 'Q4'};
revenue = [42 51 63 58; 38 45 52 61; 29 34 48 55];
bar(revenue');
title('Quarterly Revenue by Region');
xlabel('Quarter');
ylabel('Revenue ($M)');
legend('North', 'South', 'West');
grid on;
Using bar with coding agents
Open a RunMat example with live inputs, then ask the agent to explain how bar changes the result.
Run a small bar example, explain the result, then change one input and compare the output.
FAQ
How do I create grouped vs stacked bar charts?⌄
Pass a matrix to bar. By default, each row becomes a group with side-by-side bars (one per column). To stack them instead, pass 'stacked' as the second argument.
Y = [3 5 2; 4 6 1; 5 4 3];
bar(Y); % grouped (default)
bar(Y, 'stacked'); % stackedCan I make horizontal bar charts?⌄
Use barh instead of bar. It takes the same inputs but draws bars horizontally. The y-axis becomes the category axis and the x-axis shows values.
barh([3 5 2 9]);How do I set custom category labels on the x-axis?⌄
After calling bar, use set(gca, 'XTickLabel', ...) to replace the default numeric labels with strings.
bar([4 7 2]);
set(gca, 'XTickLabel', {'Q1', 'Q2', 'Q3'});The label count should match the number of bar groups.
Related Plotting functions
More plotting resources
Open-source implementation
Unlike proprietary runtimes, every RunMat function is open-source. Read exactly how bar is executed, line by line, in Rust.
- View the source for bar in Rust on GitHub
- Learn how the RunMat runtime works
- Found a bug? Open an issue with a minimal reproduction.
About RunMat
RunMat is an open-source runtime that executes MATLAB-syntax code blazing on any GPU. It is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.
- RunMat automatically optimizes your math for GPU execution on Apple, Nvidia, and AMD hardware. No code changes needed. Simulations that took hours now take minutes.
- Start running code in seconds. RunMat runs in the browser, on the desktop, or from the CLI. No license server, no IT ticket.