polarplot — Create 2-D line plots in polar coordinates.

polarplot converts angular/radial data to cartesian line coordinates and marks the active axes as polar so the renderer draws concentric radial rings and angular spokes.

Syntax

h = polarplot(theta, rho)
h = polarplot(theta, rho, LineSpec)
h = polarplot(theta1, rho1, ..., thetaN, rhoN)
h = polarplot(rho)
h = polarplot(Z)

Inputs

Returns

Errors

How polarplot works

• polarplot(theta, rho) interprets theta values as radians and requires theta and rho to have the same number of elements.
• polarplot(rho) creates implicit theta values over [0, 2*pi] with the same number of samples as rho.
• polarplot(Z) interprets complex input as theta = angle(Z) and rho = abs(Z).
• Matrix rho or Z inputs create one polar line per column. A vector theta can be paired with a rho matrix when its length matches each column.
• Multiple theta/rho pairs in one call create multiple line objects and return the handle for the first created series.
• LineSpec strings and common line name/value pairs such as LineWidth, Color, Marker, and DisplayName share the same parser used by plot. A final all-name/value group applies to every line created by that call.
• Empty data creates an empty line object, matching MATLAB graphics-object behavior.
• The target axes are switched to polar mode with equal x/y scaling and symmetric cartesian limits based on the largest radius.

Options

• Use MATLAB-style line specs such as 'r--', 'bo-', and ':' after a polar series.
• Use hold on before additional polarplot calls to overlay more polar lines on the same axes.
• Use set(h, ...) on the returned line handle to update line properties after plotting.

Examples

Plot a polar curve from theta and rho

theta = linspace(0, 2*pi, 200);
rho = abs(sin(2*theta).*cos(2*theta));
h = polarplot(theta, rho);

Expected output:

% h is a numeric handle for the first polar line

Use complex data

z = exp(1i*linspace(0, 2*pi, 100));
polarplot(z, 'r--');

Expected output:

% theta comes from angle(z), rho comes from abs(z)

Overlay multiple polar series

theta = linspace(0, 2*pi, 200);
polarplot(theta, abs(sin(theta)), 'b-');
hold on;
polarplot(theta, abs(cos(theta)), 'r--', 'LineWidth', 2);

Expected output:

% both lines share the same polar axes

Rendered polarplot example

theta = linspace(0, 2*pi, 500);
primary = abs(cos(theta)).^3 + 0.12;
secondary = 0.55*abs(sin(2*theta)).^2 + 0.08;

polarplot(theta, primary, 'b-');
hold on;
polarplot(theta, secondary, 'r--', 'LineWidth', 2);
hold off;

Compare this result with other chart types in the MATLAB Plot Gallery.

Using polarplot with coding agents

Open a RunMat example with live inputs, then ask the agent to explain how polarplot changes the result.

FAQ

Related Plotting functions

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