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PlotLegends

is an option for plot functions that specifies what legends to use.

Details
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Legend Content  
Legend Placement  
Possible Issues  
See Also
Related Guides
History
Cite this Page

PlotLegends

PlotLegends

is an option for plot functions that specifies what legends to use.

Details

  • Typical settings for PlotLegends include:
  • Noneadd no legend
    Automaticuse automatic legending
    "Expressions"use formulas as legend labels
    {lbl1,lbl2,…}use lbli for the i^(th) input
    expruse expr as legend
    Placed[leg,pos]specify placement of legend
  • The following legend constructors can be used to form commonly occurring legends: SwatchLegend, LineLegend, PointLegend and BarLegend.
  • PlotLegendsPlaced[leg,pos] places the legend leg at the position specified by pos.
  • Possible forms for pos are:
  • Above,Below,Before,Afterpositions outside the bounding box for expr
    {h,v}horizontal h and vertical positions v
    {{ex,ey},{lx,ly}}scaled position {lx,ly} in the legend at scaled position {ex,ey} in expr
  • Possible horizontal positions include Before, Left, Center, Right and After.
  • Possible vertical positions include Below, Bottom, Center, Top and Above.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (5)

Use editable placeholders as the legend for a plot:

Use the expressions being plotted as the legend:

Specify the text for a legend:

Place the legend below the plot:

Place a legend inside a plot:

Scope  (5)

Legend Content  (2)

Use LineLegend to construct a legend:

Use SwatchLegend to construct a legend:

BarLegend is used in ContourPlot and DensityPlot:

Use SwatchLegend to construct a legend:

A legend can be any expression:

Legend Placement  (3)

Use Placed to change legend placement:

Use named horizontal and vertical positions to place a legend:

Use scaled coordinates associated with plot range to place a legend:

For fine-control legend placement, specify the position where a legend should be placed:

Possible Issues  (1)

Control variables in Manipulate are shown in legend with full context due to the HoldForm:

Use With to show the variable value:

Wolfram Research (2012), PlotLegends, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotLegends.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2012), PlotLegends, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotLegends.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2012. "PlotLegends." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotLegends.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2012). PlotLegends. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotLegends.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_plotlegends, author="Wolfram Research", title="{PlotLegends}", year="2012", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotLegends.html}", note=[Accessed: 11-August-2025]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_plotlegends, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={PlotLegends}, year={2012}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotLegends.html}, note=[Accessed: 11-August-2025]}