[Tex/LaTex] Distance of the axis labels Pgfplots

pgfplotspgfplotstable

Why this options change the distance of the axis labels in this plot ?

 \pgfplotsset{/pgf/number format/use comma,compat=newest,%
                width=12cm,%
                height=9cm%
                }

in this document: 

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots,pgfplotstable}        % Grafici
\pgfplotsset{/pgf/number format/use comma,compat=newest,%
            width=12cm,%
            height=9cm%
            }


\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}
\makeatletter \newcommand{\pgfplotsdrawaxis}{\pgfplots@draw@axis} \makeatother
\pgfplotsset{axis line on top/.style={
 axis on top=false,
 after end axis/.append code={
    \pgfplotsset{axis line style=opaque,
      ticklabel style=opaque,
      tick style=opaque,
      grid=none}
    \pgfplotsdrawaxis}
  }
}
\begin{axis}[/pgf/number format/fixed,
legend pos=outer north east,
grid=major,
xmin=0, xmax=0.2,
ymin=0, ymax=0.6,
point meta min={0},
point meta max={0.2},
yticklabel shift=2pt,
xticklabel shift=2pt,
legend pos=north west,
minor tick num=4,
axis line on top,
xticklabel style={text height=1.5ex},
xtick={0,0.05,...,0.3},
minor xtick={0,0.01,...,0.2},
extra x ticks={0,0.05,...,0.3},
extra x tick style={
    xticklabel pos=right,
    xticklabel style={text depth=0pt}
},
extra y ticks={0,0.1,...,0.7},
extra y tick style={
    yticklabel pos=right
},
tick style={thin,black},
xlabel=\large $m$,
ylabel=\large $\Delta l$,
colorbar horizontal,
colorbar style={
    /pgf/number format/fixed,
    xticklabel shift=2pt,
    xtick={0,0.05,...,0.3},
    xticklabel style={text height=1.5ex}
},
colormap={new}{color(0cm)=(violet);color(1cm)=(blue);color(2cm)=(cyan);color(3cm)=(green);color(4cm)=(yellow);color(5cm)=(orange);color(6cm)=(red)},
after end axis/.append code={
    \draw ({rel axis cs:0,0}-|{axis cs:0,0}) -- ({rel axis cs:0,1}-|{axis cs:0,0});
},
legend cell align=left]
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

I have modified the distance of the of axis numbers from the grid and then I would return to normal distance between the numbers of the axis and the axis labels. Thanks

Best Answer

The key compat=newest is supposed to change the way axis labels are placed.

In all versions before 1.3, the axis labels have been placed at a fixed, absolute distance - without respecting the width of any tick labels. After 1.3, a "new" (we have 1.6.1 by now) feature allows to compute the size of the largest tick label and places the axis labels next to them.

Note that the use of compat=newest is generally discouraged. What should happen if version 1.7 wants to change default values? The choice newest would result in a different output compared to now. Please use compat=1.5 or compat=1.6 (or whatever version you are running). Since 1.6, pgfplots will dump a suggested value to the log file.

In your case, you can use the axis option xlabel absolute (or its y variant) to restore the old absolute placement.

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