MATLAB: Can you set figure axis properties without using gca as argument to the set command

gcaMATLABsetstructures

I know you can save a structure variable for the current axis using get(gca); however, that structure seems useless except to list items within it.

For example:

axishandle = get(gca); axishandle.XTick

will display the current x-axis tick values on the command line, but both of the following commands are invalid:

set(axishandle.XTick,[0 0.5 1]) set(axishandle.XTick,'XTick',[0 0.5 1])

However,

set(gca,[0 0.5 1])

is valid–so what is the point of being able to assign a handle to the current axis?

Best Answer

you are returning the axes properties as a static structure - which cant be edited in the way you have done it, however you could have done:

 axishandle = gca
 set ( axishandle, 'Xtick', [0 0.5 1] );

FYI: You could also have done:

 axishandle = handle(gca);   % returns as a handle object of the axes
 axishandle.XTick = [0 0.5 1]

The second way is the way HG2 will work when it gets released (as far as I know).

As a note: When I create axes I save the handle to it - I hardly ever use gca for anything...

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to remove labels and grey space between subplots so that the subplots fill-up the entire figure

For MATLAB releases before R2019b, the following example code creates 2x2 plots, using the 'subplot' function and modifies the axes properties such that the subplots fill-up the entire figure window:

subplot(2,2,1);
[X,Y,Z] = peaks(20);
imagesc(Z);
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
ax.Position = [0 0.5 0.5 0.5];
subplot(2,2,2);
contour(X,Y,Z)
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
ax.Position = [0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5];
subplot(2,2,3);
imagesc(Z);
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
ax.Position = [0 0 0.5 0.5];
subplot(2,2,4);
contour(X,Y,Z);
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
ax.Position = [0.5 0 0.5 0.5];

There is a slightly elegant way of doing this in R2019b using the 'tiledlayout' function instead of 'subplot':

t = tiledlayout(2,2);
[X,Y,Z] = peaks(20);
% Tile 1
nexttile
imagesc(Z)
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
% Tile 2
nexttile
contour(X,Y,Z)
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
% Tile 3
nexttile
imagesc(Z)
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
% Tile 4
nexttile
contour(X,Y,Z)
ax = gca;
set(ax,'XTick',[], 'YTick', []);
t.Padding = 'none';
t.TileSpacing = 'none';

Note that the last two commands get rid of all the space between the tiled plots.

MATLAB: Changing ylim properties of multiple plotyy figures

You are overwriting ax each time through your loop, so it no longer refers to figure 7's ax.

findobj(7,'type','axis')

would get you both axis of figure 7; you would have to figure out which is which (perhaps by examining which side the label is set to be drawn on.)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to remove labels and grey space between subplots so that the subplots fill-up the entire figure

MATLAB: Changing ylim properties of multiple plotyy figures

Related Question