# Julia Plots circular marker with no fill (transparent inside)

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-plots-circular-marker-with-no-fill-transparent-inside/104246>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** plots\
**Created:** [September 26, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-plots-circular-marker-with-no-fill-transparent-inside/104246 "2023-09-26T00:19:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iHany](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ihany/32/18151_2.png) [@iHany](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/iHany)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-plots-circular-marker-with-no-fill-transparent-inside/104246/1 "2023-09-26T00:19:22Z")

</div>

Hi,

I’d like to make a circular marker without an interior color.

I tried several things including this but didn’t work yet.

```julia
julia> using Plots

julia> a, b = [1], [1]
([1], [1])

julia> scatter(a, b; markeralpha=0, markerstrokealpha=1, markerstrokecolor=:blue)

julia> # transparent marker

julia> scatter(a, b; markercolor=nothing, markerstrokecolor=:blue)

julia> # interior is in black

```

What should I do?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kevbonham](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kevbonham/32/216165_2.png) [@kevbonham](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kevbonham)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 4:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-plots-circular-marker-with-no-fill-transparent-inside/104246/2 "2023-09-26T04:39:31Z")

</div>

It’s been a while since I used Plots, but have you tried an RGBA color? Eg `markercolor=RGBA(1,1,1,0)`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iHany](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ihany/32/18151_2.png) [@iHany](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/iHany)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 5:09am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-plots-circular-marker-with-no-fill-transparent-inside/104246/3 "2023-09-26T05:09:44Z")

</div>

I think it’s white, not transparent.

```julia
julia> using Plots

julia> a, b = [1], [1]
([1], [1])

julia> c, d = [1.1], [1.1]
([1.1], [1.1])

julia> fig = plot(; xlim=(0, 10), ylim=(0, 10))

julia> scatter!(a, b; markercolor=RGBA(1, 1, 1, 0), markersize=10)

julia> scatter!(c, d; markercolor=RGBA(1, 1, 1, 0), markersize=10)

```

![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/0/8/08ae75f063de1a22575a66e57a172e5f3f4ad68c.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sijo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@sijo](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sijo)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 7:12am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-plots-circular-marker-with-no-fill-transparent-inside/104246/4 "2023-09-26T07:12:27Z")

</div>

It’s not supported by the default GR backend, see [past discussion](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-get-empty-markers-plots-gr-backend/20069/12) with workarounds and GitHub [issue](https://github.com/JuliaPlots/Plots.jl/issues/1469).

The easiest is to use another Plots.jl backend if that works for you. Or if you want to try Makie you can do something like `scatter(data, color=:transparent, strokecolor=:blue, strokewidth=2)`.