WOLFRAM

Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center

ShowContents

is an option for Style, Cell and related constructs that determines whether an object should be displayed.

Details
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Properties & Relations  
See Also
History
Cite this Page

ShowContents

ShowContents

is an option for Style, Cell and related constructs that determines whether an object should be displayed.

Details

  • With the default setting ShowContents->True, an object displays normally.
  • With the setting ShowContents->False, a Style object will not displayed. Any space the object would have taken on the display will still be reserved.
  • Objects displayed in a graphics scene will continue to affect automatic sizes and plot ranges in the graphic even when ShowContentsFalse is applied to them.
  • ShowContentsDynamic[x] enables dynamic control over visibility that can be connected to a user interface.

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (2)

Hide the display of an item in a list:

Wolfram Language code: {1, Style[2, ShowContents -> False], 3}

Control the visibility of a disk with a checkbox:

Wolfram Language code: {Checkbox[Dynamic[x]], Graphics[{StandardYellow, Style[Disk[], ShowContents -> Dynamic[x]], StandardGreen, Triangle[]}]}

Scope  (7)

Hide an expression:

Wolfram Language code: {"fish", Style["fowl", ShowContents -> False]}

Hide a bit of typesetting:

Wolfram Language code: x + Style[y, ShowContents -> False] ^ 2

Hide a user interface element:

Wolfram Language code: Column[{Button["first"], Style[Button["second"], ShowContents -> False], Button["third"]}]

Hidden controls do not respond to clicking:

Wolfram Language code: Deploy[Framed[Style[Button["print", Print["clicked!"]], ShowContents -> False]]]

Hide a shape in a 2D graphic:

Wolfram Language code: Graphics[{Disk[{0, 0}], Style[Disk[{2, 0}], ShowContents -> False], Disk[{4, 0}]}]

Hidden shapes affect automatically determined plot ranges:

Wolfram Language code: Graphics[{Style[Disk[{-10, -10}], ShowContents -> False], Disk[{0, 0}], Style[Disk[{10, 10}], ShowContents -> False]}, PlotRange -> Automatic, Axes -> True]

Hide a shape in a 3D graphic:

Wolfram Language code: Graphics3D[{Cuboid[{0, 0, 0}], Style[Cuboid[{1, 0, 0}], ShowContents -> False], Cuboid[{2, 0, 0}]}]

Hidden shapes affect automatically determined plot ranges:

Wolfram Language code: Graphics3D[{Cuboid[{0, 0, 0}], Style[Cuboid[{5, 5, 5}], ShowContents -> False]}, PlotRange -> Automatic, Axes -> True]

Hide the contents of an entire cell:

Wolfram Language code: CellPrint[ExpressionCell["fish", "Print", ShowContents -> False]]

Connect a checkbox to the value of ShowContents using Dynamic:

Wolfram Language code: {Checkbox[Dynamic[showString]], Style["fish", ShowContents -> Dynamic[showString]]}

Similarly, control the visibility of a shape in a graphic:

Wolfram Language code: {Checkbox[Dynamic[showTube]], Graphics3D[{Sphere[{0, 0, 0}], Style[Tube[{{0, 0, 0}, {5, 5, 5}}, .5], ShowContents -> Dynamic[showTube]], Sphere[{5, 5, 5}]}]}

Properties & Relations  (2)

Invisible is effectively the same as Style[expr,ShowContentsFalse]:

Wolfram Language code: {Invisible[123], Style[123, ShowContents -> False]}

ShowContents is more flexible, since its value can be controlled with Dynamic:

Wolfram Language code: {Checkbox[Dynamic[x]], Dynamic[x], Style[123, ShowContents -> Dynamic[x]]}

Use Spacer to display a blank space with the size specified in printer's points:

Wolfram Language code: Framed[Spacer[{70, 50}]]
Wolfram Research (1999), ShowContents, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowContents.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (1999), ShowContents, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowContents.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1999. "ShowContents." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowContents.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1999). ShowContents. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowContents.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_showcontents, author="Wolfram Research", title="{ShowContents}", year="1999", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowContents.html}", note=[Accessed: 15-June-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_showcontents, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={ShowContents}, year={1999}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowContents.html}, note=[Accessed: 15-June-2026]}