4/2/24, 11:50 PM 2-D and 3-D grids - MATLAB meshgrid

meshgrid
2-D and 3-D grids

Syntax

[X,Y] = meshgrid(x,y)
[X,Y] = meshgrid(x)

[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x,y,z)
[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x)

Description
[X,Y] = meshgrid(x,y) returns 2-D grid coordinates based on the coordinates contained in vectors x example
and y. X is a matrix where each row is a copy of x, and Y is a matrix where each column is a copy of y. The
grid represented by the coordinates X and Y has length(y) rows and length(x) columns.

example
[X,Y] = meshgrid(x) is the same as [X,Y] = meshgrid(x,x), returning square grid coordinates with
grid size length(x)-by-length(x).

[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x,y,z) returns 3-D grid coordinates defined by the vectors x, y, and z. The grid example
represented by X, Y, and Z has size length(y)-by-length(x)-by-length(z).

example
[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x) is the same as [X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x,x,x), returning 3-D grid coordinates
with grid size length(x)-by-length(x)-by-length(x).

Examples collapse all

 2-D Grid

Create 2-D grid coordinates with x-coordinates defined by the vector x and y-
coordinates defined by the vector y. Try This Example

 Copy Command

x = 1:3;  Get
y = 1:5;
[X,Y] = meshgrid(x,y)

X = 5×3

1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3

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Y = 5×3

1 1 1
2 2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4
5 5 5

Evaluate the expression x

2
+ y
2
over the 2-D grid.

X.^2 + Y.^2  Get

ans = 5×3

2 5 10
5 8 13
10 13 18
17 20 25
26 29 34

 Plot Surface

Create a 2-D grid with uniformly spaced x-coordinates and y-coordinates in the
interval [-2,2]. Try This Example

 Copy Command

x = -2:0.25:2;  Get
y = x;
[X,Y] = meshgrid(x);
2 2

Evaluate and plot the function f ( x, y) = xe

−x −y
over the 2-D grid.

F = X.*exp(-X.^2-Y.^2);  Get
surf(X,Y,F)

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Starting in R2016b, it is not always necessary to create the grid before operating over it. For example, computing
2 2

the expression xe− x − y implicitly expands the vectors x and y. For more information on implicit expansion, see
Array vs. Matrix Operations.

surf(x,y,x.*exp(-x.^2-(y').^2))  Get

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 3-D Grid

Create 3-D grid coordinates from x-, y-, and z-coordinates defined in the interval
[0,6], and evaluate the expression x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
. Try This Example

 Copy Command

x = 0:2:6;  Get
y = 0:1:6;
z = 0:3:6;
[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x,y,z);
F = X.^2 + Y.^2 + Z.^2;

Determine the size of the grid. The three coordinate vectors have different lengths, forming a rectangular box of
grid points.

gridsize = size(F)  Get

gridsize = 1×3

7 4 3

Use the single-input syntax to generate a uniformly spaced 3-D grid based on the coordinates defined in x. The new
grid forms a cube of grid points.

[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x);  Get

G = X.^2 + Y.^2 + Z.^2;
gridsize = size(G)

gridsize = 1×3

4 4 4

Input Arguments collapse all

x — x-coordinates of points
 vector

x-coordinates of points, specified as a vector.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

y — y-coordinates of points
 vector

y-coordinates of points, specified as a vector.

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Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

z — z-coordinates of points
 vector

z-coordinates of points, specified as a vector.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

Output Arguments collapse all

X — x-coordinates over grid

 2-D or 3-D array

x-coordinates over a grid, returned as a 2-D (two inputs) or 3-D array (three inputs).

Y — y-coordinates over grid

 2-D or 3-D array

y-coordinates over a grid, returned as a 2-D (two inputs) or 3-D array (three inputs).

Z — z-coordinates over grid

 3-D array

z-coordinates over a grid, returned as a 3-D array.

More About collapse all

 Convert Between meshgrid and ndgrid Formats

meshgrid and ndgrid create grids using different output formats. Specifically, the first two dimensions of a grid
created using one of these functions are swapped when compared to the other grid format. Some MATLAB®
functions use grids in meshgrid format, while others use ndgrid format, so it is common to convert grids between
the two formats.

You can convert between these grid formats using pagetranspose (as of R2020b) or permute to swap the first two
dimensions of the grid arrays. For example, create a 3-D grid with meshgrid.

[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(1:4,1:3,1:2);

Now transpose the first two dimensions of each grid array to convert the grid to ndgrid format, and compare the
results against the outputs from ndgrid.

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Xt = pagetranspose(X);
Yt = pagetranspose(Y);
Zt = pagetranspose(Z);
[Xn,Yn,Zn] = ndgrid(1:4,1:3,1:2);
isequal(Xt,Xn) & isequal(Yt,Yn) & isequal(Zt,Zn)

ans =

logical

1
Using pagetranspose is equivalent to permuting the first two dimensions while leaving other dimensions the
same. You can also perform this operation using permute(X,[2 1 3:ndims(X)]).

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation

Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

GPU Code Generation

Generate CUDA® code for NVIDIA® GPUs using GPU Coder™.

 Thread-Based Environment
Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel
Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

 GPU Arrays
Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

 Distributed Arrays
Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing
Toolbox™.

Version History
Introduced before R2006a

See Also
griddedInterpolant | mesh | ndgrid | combinations | surf

Topics
Interpolating Gridded Data

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Learn more

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