# get

## Purpose

Get object properties.

## Synopsis

    V = get(h,'PropertyName')
    get(h)

## Description

Use the `get` function to obtain the current values of object properties. The handle argument `h` identifies the object whose properties you are querying.

`V = get(h,'PropertyName')` returns the current value of the specified property of the object identified by the handle `h`.

`get(h)`, without a property name, lists all the properties that apply to the object with the handle `h`, along with their current values.

To query the value of any default property, concatenate the word `Default` with the object type and the property name. For example, to obtain the default value of the `Color` property for figure objects, use the following command:

    get(0,'DefaultFigureColor')

To obtain a list of all default values currently defined by an object for its descendants, use

    get(h,'Default')

where `h` is the handle of the object.

## Examples

Use `get` to obtain the handles of objects already on the screen. For example, the following statements create a surface and a text string:

    surf(peaks)
    text(26,50,7,'The peak of peaks')

If you want to change the color of the text, but did not save its handle when creating it, you can use `get` to query the properties of the objects in the current axes.

    h = get(gca,'Children');
    get(h(1),'Type')

    ans =
        Text

    get(h(2),'Type')

    ans =
        Surface

In this case, `h(1)` contains the handle of the text object. You can now use this handle to set the text color:

    set(h(1),'Color',[1 0 0])

To obtain a list of the surface's properties and their current values, use `get` on the surface's handle:

    get(h(2))
    CData = [ (too many rows) ]
    EdgeColor = black
    FaceColor = flat
    LineStyle = -
    MarkerSize = [6]
    MeshStyle = both
    XData = [(1 by 49) ]
    YData = [ (49 by 1) ]
    ZData = [ (49 by 49) ]
    Children = []
    Clipping = on
    Parent = [10.000366211]
    Type = Surface
    UserData = []
    Visible = on

In cases where the property value is a matrix too large to display conveniently, the string `too` `many` `rows` is returned.

## See Also

    gca, gcf, set

(c) Copyright 1994 by The MathWorks, Inc.