[Tex/LaTex] Custom Dashed Plot Lines in PGFPLots

pgfplots

I know that you can make a dashed line in pgfplots using the \addplot[dashed] option. However, the line that produces isn't dashed the way I'd like.

I found \pgfsetdash in the documentation for PGF, but I can't figure out how to use it on just one \addplot. If I include it anywhere within the tikzpicture environment, it changes all of the lines, including the axes. I thought that adding a second \pgfsetdash would change the style, but it doesn't seem to have an effect.

Any advice for creating custom dash styles in PGF plots?

Best Answer

You can use the key dash pattern=<pattern> to define a dash pattern in an \addplot:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}


\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot [dash pattern=on 4pt off 1pt on 4pt off 4pt] {x^2};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] pgfplots: shadow for markers

It seems like this works:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{shadows}

\pgfdeclareplotmark{*)}
{%
\fill[drop shadow={draw=black,fill=black,opacity=.25,shadow xshift=2pt,shadow
yshift=-2pt}] (0,0) circle [radius=2pt];
}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}
     \addplot[red,mark=*)] {x^2 - x + 4};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

It seems that it is ok to use regular tikz code inside \pgfdeclareplotmark. It may be horribly wrong, though, and could break any number of other things, so please use it with caution.

[Tex/LaTex] Is there a common pgfplots styles/templates repository

A template library for different plots styles would not work, because there a to many different kinds of data and ways to present the data. Futhermore the style depends on the personal taste. For example I prefer to have the ticks outside of the plot, other find it more elegant to have them inside of the plot. Next question is if the opposide axis should have ticks or not.

Coming back to your question, you do not have to repeat yourself by "copy and paste". You can define your own styles and reuse them. Hence if you change your mind or your supervisor you only have to change it in one place. Here is one example:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.5}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\SendSettingsToPgf

% define a general plot style
\pgfplotsset{general plot/.style={ 
        xtick pos=left,
        ytick pos=left,
        enlarge x limits=false,
        minor x tick num=1,
        every x tick/.style={color=black, thin},
        every y tick/.style={color=black, thin},
        tick align=outside,
        xlabel near ticks,
        ylabel near ticks,
    } 
}

% define a plot style for absorbance
\pgfplotsset{ir absorbance/.style={
        general plot, % reuse the general plot style
        x dir= reverse,
        ytick = \empty,
        % insteed of hard coding the unit you could also use
        % the pgfplots unit library
        xlabel=Wavenumber (\si{\per\centi\metre}),
        ylabel=Absorbance (a.\,u.),
    }
}

\pgfplotsset{ir absorbance data/.style={mark=none}}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \begin{axis}[ir absorbance,
            domain=2000:2200, samples=100 % only needed for the function plottiong
        ]
            \addplot[ir absorbance data] { % here you would have: table[...] {mydata.txt}
                exp(-((x-2080)^2/40))
            };
        \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Example

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] pgfplots: shadow for markers

[Tex/LaTex] Is there a common pgfplots styles/templates repository

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