DeleteSmallComponents
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DeleteSmallComponents
replaces small connected components in a binary image image with background pixels.
replaces positive integers in a label matrix m with 0 if their tally is small.
Details and Options

- DeleteSmallComponents works with arbitrary 2D and 3D images or label matrices.
- The following options can be given:
-
CornerNeighbors True whether to include corner neighbors Method Automatic method to determine a size threshold - Possible settings for the Method option include:
-
"Cluster" cluster variance maximization (Otsu's algorithm) "Mean" use the mean of component sizes as the threshold "Median" use the median of component sizes as the threshold - The default setting is Method->"Cluster", corresponding to cluster variance maximization.
Examples
open allclose allBasic Examples (3)Summary of the most common use cases
Delete small components in a binary image:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0k73cegmq0zrn-d9qbqs

Delete small components in a 3D image:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0k73cegmq0zrn-hwlls

Remove small components from a label matrix:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0k73cegmq0zrn-uwdyyj

Scope (2)Survey of the scope of standard use cases
Options (2)Common values & functionality for each option
Method (2)
Use the default cluster variance maximization method:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0k73cegmq0zrn-h3yiw2

Delete components smaller than the mean component size:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0k73cegmq0zrn-5r4qk


https://wolfram.com/xid/0k73cegmq0zrn-i8hrh0

Applications (2)Sample problems that can be solved with this function
Wolfram Research (2010), DeleteSmallComponents, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html (updated 2012).
Text
Wolfram Research (2010), DeleteSmallComponents, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html (updated 2012).
Wolfram Research (2010), DeleteSmallComponents, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html (updated 2012).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 2010. "DeleteSmallComponents." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2012. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html.
Wolfram Language. 2010. "DeleteSmallComponents." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2012. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (2010). DeleteSmallComponents. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html
Wolfram Language. (2010). DeleteSmallComponents. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_deletesmallcomponents, author="Wolfram Research", title="{DeleteSmallComponents}", year="2012", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html}", note=[Accessed: 05-June-2025
]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_deletesmallcomponents, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={DeleteSmallComponents}, year={2012}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html}, note=[Accessed: 05-June-2025
]}