interp1

1-D data interpolation (table lookup)

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Syntax
vq = interp1(x,v,xq)
vq = interp1(x,v,xq,method)
vq = interp1(x,v,xq,method,extrapolation)
vq = interp1(v,xq)
vq = interp1(v,xq,method)
vq = interp1(v,xq,method,extrapolation)
pp = interp1(x,v,method,'pp')

Description
example

vq = interp1(x,v,xq) returns interpolated values of a 1-D function at specific query

points using linear interpolation. Vector x contains the sample points, and v contains the
corresponding values, v(x). Vector xqcontains the coordinates of the query points.
If you have multiple sets of data that are sampled at the same point coordinates, then
you can pass v as an array. Each column of array v contains a different set of 1-D
sample values.
example

vq = interp1(x,v,xq,method) specifies an alternative interpolation

method: 'nearest', 'next', 'previous', 'linear','spline','pchip', 'makima',
or 'cubic'. The default method is 'linear'.
example

vq = interp1(x,v,xq,method,extrapolation) specifies a strategy for evaluating points

that lie outside the domain of x. Set extrapolation to 'extrap' when you want to use
the method algorithm for extrapolation. Alternatively, you can specify a scalar value, in
which case, interp1 returns that value for all points outside the domain of x.
example

vq = interp1(v,xq) returns interpolated values and assumes a default set of sample

point coordinates. The default points are the sequence of numbers from 1 to n,
where n depends on the shape of v:
• When v is a vector, the default points are 1:length(v).
• When v is an array, the default points are 1:size(v,1).
Use this syntax when you are not concerned about the absolute distances between
points.
vq = interp1(v,xq,method) specifies any of the alternative interpolation methods and
uses the default sample points.
vq = interp1(v,xq,method,extrapolation) specifies an extrapolation strategy and uses
the default sample points.
pp = interp1(x,v,method,'pp') returns the piece-wise polynomial form of v(x) using
the methodalgorithm.
Note

This syntax is not recommended. Use griddedInterpolant instead.

Examples
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Interpolation of Coarsely Sampled Sine Function
Try This Example
Define the sample points, x, and corresponding sample values, v.
x = 0:pi/4:2*pi;
v = sin(x);

Define the query points to be a finer sampling over the range of x.

xq = 0:pi/16:2*pi;

Interpolate the function at the query points and plot the result.
figure
vq1 = interp1(x,v,xq);
plot(x,v,'o',xq,vq1,':.');
xlim([0 2*pi]);
title('(Default) Linear Interpolation');

Now evaluate v at the same points using the 'spline' method.

figure
vq2 = interp1(x,v,xq,'spline');
plot(x,v,'o',xq,vq2,':.');
xlim([0 2*pi]);
title('Spline Interpolation');
Interpolation Without Specifying Points
Try This Example
Define a set of function values.
v = [0 1.41 2 1.41 0 -1.41 -2 -1.41 0];

Define a set of query points that fall between the default points, 1:9. In this case, the
default points are 1:9 because v contains 9 values.
xq = 1.5:8.5;

Evaluate v at xq.
vq = interp1(v,xq);

Plot the result.

figure
plot((1:9),v,'o',xq,vq,'*');
legend('v','vq');
Interpolation of Complex Values
Try This Example
Define a set of sample points.
x = 1:10;

Define the values of the function, , at the sample points.

v = (5*x)+(x.^2*1i);

Define the query points to be a finer sampling over the range of x.

xq = 1:0.25:10;

Interpolate v at the query points.

vq = interp1(x,v,xq);

Plot the real part of the result in red and the imaginary part in blue.
figure
plot(x,real(v),'*r',xq,real(vq),'-r');
hold on
plot(x,imag(v),'*b',xq,imag(vq),'-b');
Interpolation of Dates and Times
Try This Example
Interpolate time-stamped data points.
Consider a data set containing temperature readings that are measured every four hours.
Create a table with one day's worth of data and plot the data.
x = (datetime(2016,1,1):hours(4):datetime(2016,1,2))';
x.Format = 'MMM dd, HH:mm';
T = [31 25 24 41 43 33 31]';
WeatherData = table(x,T,'VariableNames',{'Time','Temperature'})
WeatherData=7x2 table
Time Temperature
_____________ ___________

Jan 01, 00:00 31

Jan 01, 04:00 25
Jan 01, 08:00 24
Jan 01, 12:00 41
Jan 01, 16:00 43
Jan 01, 20:00 33
Jan 02, 00:00 31

plot(WeatherData.Time, WeatherData.Temperature, 'o')

Interpolate the data set to predict the temperature reading during each minute of the day.
Since the data is periodic, use the 'spline' interpolation method.
xq = (datetime(2016,1,1):minutes(1):datetime(2016,1,2))';
V = interp1(WeatherData.Time, WeatherData.Temperature, xq, 'spline');

Plot the interpolated points.

hold on
plot(xq,V,'r')
Extrapolation Using Two Different Methods
Try This Example
Define the sample points, x, and corresponding sample values, v.
x = [1 2 3 4 5];
v = [12 16 31 10 6];

Specify the query points, xq, that extend beyond the domain of x.
xq = [0 0.5 1.5 5.5 6];

Evaluate v at xq using the 'pchip' method.

vq1 = interp1(x,v,xq,'pchip')
vq1 =

19.3684 13.6316 13.2105 7.4800 12.5600

Next, evaluate v at xq using the 'linear' method.

vq2 = interp1(x,v,xq,'linear')
vq2 =

NaN NaN 14 NaN NaN

Now, use the 'linear' method with the 'extrap' option.

vq3 = interp1(x,v,xq,'linear','extrap')
vq3 =
 8 10 14 4 2

'pchip' extrapolates by default, but 'linear' does not.

Designate Constant Value for All Queries Outside the Domain of x
Try This Example
Define the sample points, x, and corresponding sample values, v.
x = [-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3];
v = 3*x.^2;

Specify the query points, xq, that extend beyond the domain of x.
xq = [-4 -2.5 -0.5 0.5 2.5 4];

Now evaluate v at xq using the 'pchip' method and assign any values outside the
domain of x to the value, 27.
vq = interp1(x,v,xq,'pchip',27)
vq =

27.0000 18.6562 0.9375 0.9375 18.6562 27.0000

Interpolate Multiple Sets of Data in One Pass

Try This Example
Define the sample points.
x = (-5:5)';

Sample three different parabolic functions at the points defined in x.

v1 = x.^2;
v2 = 2*x.^2 + 2;
v3 = 3*x.^2 + 4;

Create matrix v, whose columns are the vectors, v1, v2, and v3.
v = [v1 v2 v3];

Define a set of query points, xq, to be a finer sampling over the range of x.
xq = -5:0.1:5;

Evaluate all three functions at xq and plot the results.

vq = interp1(x,v,xq,'pchip');
figure
plot(x,v,'o',xq,vq);

h = gca;
h.XTick = -5:5;
 The circles in the plot represent v, and the solid lines represent vq.
Input Arguments
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x — Sample points
vector
Sample points, specified as a row or column vector of real numbers. The values
in x must be distinct. The length of xmust conform to one of the following requirements:
• If v is a vector, then length(x) must equal length(v).
• If v is an array, then length(x) must equal size(v,1).
Example: [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10]
Example: 1:10
Example: [3 7 11 15 19 23 27 31]'
Data Types: single | double | duration | datetime
v — Sample values
vector | matrix | array
Sample values, specified as a vector, matrix, or array of real or complex numbers. If v is
a matrix or an array, then each column contains a separate set of 1-D values.
If v contains complex numbers, then interp1 interpolates the real and imaginary parts
separately.
Example: rand(1,10)
Example: rand(10,1)
Example: rand(10,3)
Data Types: single | double | duration | datetime
Complex Number Support: Yes
xq — Query points
scalar | vector | matrix | array
Query points, specified as a scalar, vector, matrix, or array of real numbers.
Example: 5
Example: 1:0.05:10
Example: (1:0.05:10)'
Example: [0 1 2 7.5 10]
Data Types: single | double | duration | datetime
method — Interpolation method
'linear' (default)
| 'nearest' | 'next' | 'previous' | 'spline' | 'pchip' | 'cubic' | 'makima'
Interpolation method, specified as one of the options in this table.

Method Description Continuity Comments

'linear' Linear interpolation. The C0 • Requires at least 2 points
interpolated value at a query point is
based on linear interpolation of the • Requires more memory and
values at neighboring grid points in computation time than nearest
each respective dimension. This is neighbor
the default interpolation method.
'nearest' Nearest neighbor interpolation. The • Requires at least 2 points
Discontinuous
interpolated value at a query point is
the value at the nearest sample grid • Modest memory requirements
point. • Fastest computation time

'next' Next neighbor interpolation. The • Requires at least 2 points

Discontinuous
interpolated value at a query point is
the value at the next sample grid • Same memory requirements
point. and computation time
as 'nearest'

'previous' • Requires at least 2 points

Previous neighbor interpolation. The Discontinuous
interpolated value at a query point is
the value at the previous sample grid • Same memory requirements
point. and computation time
as 'nearest'

'pchip' Shape-preserving piecewise cubic C1 • Requires at least 4 points

interpolation. The interpolated value
at a query point is based on a shape- • Requires more memory and
preserving piecewise cubic computation time
interpolation of the values at than 'linear'
neighboring grid points.
'cubic' Same as 'pchip'. C1 This method currently returns
Note the same result as 'pchip'

The behavior
ofinterp1(...,'cubic')will change in a
future release. In a future release, this method
will perform cubic convolution.

'v5cubic' Cubic convolution used in C1 Points must be uniformly

 Method Description Continuity Comments
MATLAB® 5. spaced.'cubic' will
replace 'v5cubic'in a future
release
'makima' Modified Akima cubic Hermite C1 • Requires at least 2 points
interpolation. The interpolated value
at a query point is based on a • Produces fewer undulations
piecewise function of polynomials than 'spline', but does not
with degree at most three. The flatten as aggressively
Akima formula is modified to avoid as'pchip'
overshoots.
• Computation is more expensive
than 'pchip', but typically
less than 'spline'
• Memory requirements are
similar to those of 'spline'

'spline' Spline interpolation using not-a-knot C2 • Requires at least 4 points

end conditions. The interpolated
value at a query point is based on a • Requires more memory and
cubic interpolation of the values at computation time
neighboring grid points in each than 'pchip'
respective dimension.
In R2017b and later releases, method can also be specified as a string using double
quotes. For example, "spline".
extrapolation — Extrapolation strategy
'extrap' | scalar value
Extrapolation strategy, specified as 'extrap' or a real scalar value.
• Specify 'extrap' when you want interp1 to evaluate points outside the domain using
the same method it uses for interpolation.
• Specify a scalar value when you want interp1 to return a specific constant value for
points outside the domain.
The default behavior depends on the input arguments:
• If you specify the 'pchip', 'spline', or 'makima' interpolation methods, then the
default behavior is 'extrap'.
• All other interpolation methods return NaN by default for query points outside the
domain.
In R2017b and later releases, extrapolation can also be specified as a string using
double quotes. For example,"extrap".
Example: 'extrap'
Example: 5
Data Types: char | string | single | double

Output Arguments
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vq — Interpolated values
scalar | vector | matrix | array
Interpolated values, returned as a scalar, vector, matrix, or array. The size of vq depends
on the shape of v and xq.
 Shape of
Shape of v Size of Vq Example
xq

Vector Vector size(xq) If size(v) = [1 100]

and size(xq) = [1 500],
then size(vq) = [1 500].

Vector Matrix size(xq) If size(v) = [1 100]

or N-D and size(xq) = [50 30],
Array then size(vq) = [50 30].

Matrix Vector [length(xq) size(v,2),...,size(v,n)] If size(v) = [100 3]

or N-D and size(xq) = [1 500],
Array then size(vq) = [500 3].

Matrix Matrix [size(xq,1),...,size(xq,n),... If size(v) = [4 5 6]

or N-D or N-D size(v,2),...,size(v,m)] and size(xq) = [2 3 7],
Array Array then size(vq) = [2 3 7
5 6].

pp — Piecewise polynomial
structure
Piecewise polynomial, returned as a structure that you can pass to the ppval function for
evaluation.

Extended Capabilities
C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

See Also
griddedInterpolant | interp2 | interp3 | interpn

Introduced before R2006a