How can I change the default legend font independently of the default axes font?

I would like to set the default legend font properties independently of the default axes font properties. For example, in my startup.m file I have tried the following:

set(0,'defaultAxesFontName','Consolas')
set(0,'defaultAxesFontSize',16)
set(0,'defaultLegendFontName','Helvetica')
set(0,'defaultLegendFontSize',14)

But the 3rd and 4th lines don't appear to have any effect, the legend font name and size are still set by those first two lines.

Answer 1

[Shubham]

Hey Drew Chap,

Here is a working code for setting the default font properties for both axes and legend and plotting two figures in the same session to test it out. Have a look at the following code:

% Change default font for the axes
set(groot, 'DefaultAxesFontName', 'Consolas', 'DefaultAxesFontSize', 40);

% Change default font for the legend
% set(groot, 'DefaultLegendFontName', 'Helvetica', 'DefaultLegendFontSize', 5);
set(groot, 'DefaultLegendFontName', 'Ariel','DefaultLegendFontSize',5,'DefaultLegendFontSizeMode','manual');

% Generate some sample data
x = linspace(0, 2*pi, 100);
y1 = sin(x);
y2 = cos(x);

% Create the plot
figure;
plot(x, y1, 'b', 'LineWidth', 2);
hold on;
plot(x, y2, 'r', 'LineWidth', 2);

% Add legend
legend('Sin(x)', 'Cos(x)');
% legend('Sin(x)', 'Cos(x)', 'FontName', 'Helvetica', 'FontSize', 5);

% Add labels and title
xlabel('x');
ylabel('y');
title('Simple Plot');
% second plot for testing
figure;
plot(1:10,1:10);
hold on;
plot(1:10,2:2:20);
legend('a','b');
xlabel("c");

You can also refer to this:

Default Text Size in Legends - Help Center - MATLAB & Simulink (mathworks.com)

Hope this helps!