Text from a variable or text file. Also optionally a box behind it.

Generally this text cannot change while it is showing. However, it is dynamic enough to be able to show values it can obtain at experiment startup, e.g. trial number for the trial it will run in (useful if you want to show trial number during the experiment).

Psychtoolbox text renderer

By default Psychtoolbox uses its own text renderer plugin. If this fails, it falls back to a more basic text renderer in your operating system and reports so in its messages at experiment startup. In this case you may see problems with text quality, alignment, or boundaries. See Psychtoolbox Screen('DrawText') for general information on text renderers, and DrawTextPlugin help for troubleshooting.

No—runs until any condition you set in property end.

text
fileName

Default: no text

Set one of text OR fileName:

text is a string that is text to show. Or for multiple lines you can use an array of strings. You can also use <cds><n><cds> or character code <cd>10<cd> in the text (see also property wrapWidth below). For convenience you can also use just a number or row vector to show that as text.

fileName is a string that is name of text file to show. Include path if the file is not in the MATLAB current folder or search path (or not the first file with that name on the search path).

Either way you can include the following anywhere in the text for line breaks and formatting changes:

<cd><b>           <cd> – bold
<cd><i>           <cd> – italic
<cd><u>           <cd> – underline (only on some systems and text renderers)
<cd><r>           <cd> – regular (end bold/italic/underline)
<cd><font = name> <cd> – font name, e.g. <cd><font = Arial><cd>
<cd><size = n>    <cd> – font size, e.g. <cd><size = 0.8><cd>. Units are whatever you use for property fontSize below (default deg).
<cd><color = RGB> <cd> – color. RGB = a 1×3 RGB vector with numbers between 0–1, e.g. <cd><color = [1 0 0]><cd>.

You can also include <cd><pb:trial.n><cd> to tell it to show trial number for the trial the text will run in—useful if you want to show trial number during the experiment.

wrapWidth

Default: don't wrap lines

Number of characters to wrap lines at. <cd>inf<cd> = don't wrap, but you can still use an array of strings, <cd><n><cd>, or <cd>char(10)<cd> to wrap lines manually.

fontName

Default: Arial

A string setting font. See Psychtoolbox Screen('TextFont') for more information on font names.

fontSize

Default: 1 deg

This sets font height (deg). Specifically it sets height of the "em box" for the font. Typically upper case characters are a little smaller than this. If you need more information, see Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_(typography) for a starting point.

style

Default: regular

A string <cds>"r"<cds> = regular, <cds>"b"<cds> = bold, <cds>"i"<cds> = italic, or <cds>"u"<cds> = underline.

color

Default: white

A 1×3 RGB vector with numbers between 0–1 setting font color.

alignment

Default: center text horizontally

A string <cds>"l"<cds> = left or <cds>"c"<cds> = center to horizontally align lines.

lineSpacing

Default: 1.3-spaced

A number: 1 = single-spaced, 2 = double, 1.5 = 1 & 1/2, etc. This multiplies line height without affecting font size (set in fontSize above). 1 = each line's baseline is precisely fontSize distance from the next line's baseline.

boxSize
margin
boxColor
vertAlignment

Default: boxSize = no text box
Default: margin = 0.5 deg
Default: boxColor = 90% white
Default: vertAlignment = center text vertically in box

boxSize sets text box size. This is a number for a square, or a vector [width height] for a rectangle (deg). Or a string <cds>"f"<cds> = fit box to text. 0 = no box.

margin sets space between the box and text edges (deg). This applies if you align text left or top, or fit the box to the text.

boxColor is a 1×3 RGB vector with numbers between 0–1 setting box color.

vertAlignment is a string <cds>"t"<cds> = top or <cds>"c"<cds> = center to vertically align text in the box.

position
nn_eyes
rotation
colorMask
alpha
intensity
contrastMult
drawCodeVars