Matlab equivalent to Python’s figsize

In Python’s matplotlib.pyplot the figsize command allows you to determine the figure size, eg.

from numpy import linspace, sin
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = linspace(-2,2,100)
y = sin(1.5*x)

plt.figure(figsize=(8,5))
plt.plot(x,y)
plt.savefig('myfigure.pdf')
plt.show()

Is there an equivalent command in Matlab that does this? These old posts show different solutions but none are as clean as Python’s figsize.

Answer

Since you aim for saving/exporting your figure, you must pay attention to the right Figure Properties, namely:

• PaperPosition,

• PaperSize, and

• PaperUnits.

I tested the following code in Octave 5.1.0, but it should be fully MATLAB compatible:

x = linspace(-2, 2, 100);
y = sin(1.5 * x);
fig = figure('PaperUnits', 'inches', 'PaperSize', [8 5], 'PaperPosition', [0 0 8 5]);
plot(x, y);
saveas(fig, 'myfigure_octave.pdf', 'pdf');

I created a myfigure_python.pdf using your code. Both exported figures have a size of 203.2 x 127,0 mm which is 8 x 5 inches, and look quite similar, see the following screenshot. myfigure_python.pdf is on the left, myfigure_octave.pdf on the right side:

Hope that helps!