MATLAB: Global legend for all subplots in a figure placed ON the figure (not outside the figure)

legendMATLAB

Hello 🙂

So, I'd like to make one legend on the second subplot (the big one to the right in the figure) and it has to be one legend for all three graphs with the red one appearing first.

BUT when I try the following as shown by the code below, I can only get the legend placed above the first subplot but below the second subplot, as if the legend belongs to the first subplot, so giving the legend a new position does not solve the problem.

Any help to solve this will be appreciated, thanks 🙂

Best regards, Henriettte

figure

ax1 = subplot(1,2,1);

hold on

p1 = plot(time1,temp1,'.-','MarkerSize',10,'Color',Cdefault(2,:));

P1 = get(gca, 'Position');

set(gca,'Units','Normalized','Position',P1.*[1 0.7 0.45 0.7])

xlabel('Time [min]','Interpreter','latex')

ylabel('Surface temperature [$^{\circ}$C]','Interpreter','latex')

ax2 = subplot(1,2,2);

p2 = plot(time2,temp2,'.-','MarkerSize',10,'Color',[0.2 0.6 1.0]);

hold on

p3 = plot(time3,temp3,'.-','MarkerSize',10,'Color',[0.0 0.0 0.8]);

P2 = get(gca, 'Position');

set(gca,'Units','Normalized','Position',P2.*[0.55 0.7 2 0.7])

xlim([0 45])

xlabel('Time [min]','Interpreter','latex') % % %

linkaxes([ax1,ax2],'y');

set(gcf, 'Units', 'Normalized', 'OuterPosition', [0, 0.05, 0.7, 1.0])

yticklabels(ax2,{})

t.TileSpacing = 'none';

legend([p1,p2,p3],{'Brake test on: Heating',…

'Brake test off: Natural cool down',…

'Brake test off + Cooling system on: Forced cool down',…

'Location','NorthEast'})

hold off

(specifications to 'prettyfy' the figure has been left out in the code)

Best Answer

In the mean time I have come around the problem in another way, that is by making a horisontal legend on top instead. It´s not what I wanted but looks okay, so this is fine.

/Henriette

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Using Figure

h1 = figure(1);
ax1 = axes('Parent', h1);
plot(ax1, t,x(:,1),'red','linewidth',2 )
xlabel(ax1, 'Time (s)');
ylabel(ax1, 'X_1');
h2 = figure(2);
ax2 = axes('Parent', h2);
plot(ax2, t,x(:,2),'blue','linewidth',2 )
xlabel(ax2, 'Time (s)');
ylabel(ax2, 'X_2');

I explain why to explicitly parent graphics in my comment in http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/22208-show-figure

MATLAB: How to make one Colorbar for a 2×2 subplot

The problem is with the location and size of the colorbar. By changing the Position of the colobar to the left i.e., reduce the left value of the position: [left bottom width height] you can see the complete colorbar but on the top of subplots 2 & 4.

For this particular problem I would suggest you to make a subplot grid of 2x3 instead of 2x2 so that you can make use of the space of 3 & 6 subplots and change the Position property of the colorbar accordingly. The following code will help you

figure
subplot(2,3,1)
    [C,h]=contour(f_mat,sig_mat,real(L_lossy_mat).'*1e9,'LineWidth',2);
    h.LevelList = [-1 -0.5 -0.2 -0.05 0.0 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06];
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    ylabel('$\sigma^{(\textbf{I})}$ (S/m)','Interpreter','Latex')
    xlabel('$f$ (MHz)','Interpreter','Latex')
    title('$R=\infty$','Interpreter','Latex','Color',[125/255 30/255 125/255])
    ax=gca;
    ax.YDir = 'reverse';
    ax.YScale = 'log';
    ax.YMinorGrid = 'off';
    ax.TickLabelInterpreter = 'latex';
    xticks([37 46 55])
    yticks([0.01 0.1 1 10])
    yticklabels({'0.01','0.1','1','10'})
subplot(2,3,2)
    [C,h]=contour(f_cst,sig_cst,real(L_11_cst).'*1e9,'LineWidth',2);
    h.LevelList = [-1 -0.5 -0.2 -0.05 0.0 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06];
    clabel(C,h,'LabelSpacing',100,'FontSize',14,'FontWeight','bold','FontSmoothing','on','Interpreter','Latex')
    ylabel('$\sigma^{(\textbf{I})}$ (S/m)','Interpreter','Latex')
    xlabel('$f$ (MHz)','Interpreter','Latex')
    title('$R=1.1r_0$','Interpreter','Latex','Color',[125/255 30/255 125/255])
    ax=gca;
    ax.YDir = 'reverse';
    ax.YScale = 'log';
    ax.YMinorGrid = 'off';
    ax.TickLabelInterpreter = 'latex';
    xticks([37 46 55])
    yticks([0.01 0.1 1 10])
    yticklabels({'0.01','0.1','1','10'})
subplot(2,3,4)
    [C,h]=contour(f_cst,sig_cst,real(L_20_cst).'*1e9,'LineWidth',2);
    h.LevelList = [-1 -0.5 -0.2 -0.05 0.0 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06];
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    ylabel('$\sigma^{(\textbf{I})}$ (S/m)','Interpreter','Latex')
    xlabel('$f$ (MHz)','Interpreter','Latex')
    title('$R=2r_0$','Interpreter','Latex','Color',[125/255 30/255 125/255])
    ax=gca;
    ax.YDir = 'reverse';
    ax.YScale = 'log';
    ax.YMinorGrid = 'off';
    ax.TickLabelInterpreter = 'latex';
    xticks([37 46 55])
    yticks([0.01 0.1 1 10])
    yticklabels({'0.01','0.1','1','10'})
subplot(2,3,5)
    [C,h]=contour(f_cst,sig_cst,real(L_30_cst).'*1e9,'LineWidth',2);
    h.LevelList = [-1 -0.5 -0.2 -0.05 0.0 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.08];
    clabel(C,h,'LabelSpacing',200,'FontSize',14,'FontWeight','bold','FontSmoothing','on','Interpreter','Latex')
    ylabel('$\sigma^{(\textbf{I})}$ (S/m)','Interpreter','Latex')
    xlabel('$f$ (MHz)','Interpreter','Latex')
    title('$R=3r_0$','Interpreter','Latex','Color',[125/255 30/255 125/255])
    ax=gca;
    ax.YDir = 'reverse';
    ax.YScale = 'log';
    ax.YMinorGrid = 'off';
    ax.TickLabelInterpreter = 'latex';
    xticks([37 46 55])
    yticks([0.01 0.1 1 10])
    yticklabels({'0.01','0.1','1','10'})
    colormap(hsv(1000))
    hp4 = get(subplot(2,3,5),'Position');
    h = colorbar('Position', [hp4(1)+hp4(3)+0.1  hp4(2)  0.1 hp4(4)*2.2]);
    h.TickLabelInterpreter = 'latex';
    caxis([-1.8 0.1])
    ylabel(h, '$\rm{Re}\{\, \mathcal{L} \,\}$ (nH)','Interpreter','Latex')
    set(gcf,'Color','w')
    set(findall(gcf,'-property','FontName'),'fontsize',18)

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