[Tex/LaTex] Insert space between axis and plot in pgfplots

pgfplots

I've done my first bar chart with pgfplots and it looks like this:

bar chart

As you can see the first and the last bar are not completely visible and things got even worse when I tried to add another plot. How can I insert a horizontal space between the y-axis and these bars or make these bars completely visible by any other means?

The chart was generated by pdflatex with:

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
[
    symbolic x coords={36,72,144,288,576},
    xtick=data,
    ylabel=Time in Seconds,
    every axis y label/.style={at={(ticklabel cs:0.5)},rotate=90,anchor=near ticklabel},
    xlabel=Memory in MB,
    every axis x label/.style={at={(ticklabel cs:0.5)},anchor=near ticklabel},
    legend style={at={(0.5,-0.25)},
    anchor=north,legend columns=-1},
    ybar,
    bar width=7pt,
]
\addplot
coordinates {(36,1051.6) (72,875.0) (144,1099.3) (288,1114.6) (576,1054.3)};
\addplot
coordinates {(36,797.3) (72,717.6) (144,608.3) (288,591.6) (576,544.3)};
\addplot
coordinates {(36,735.3) (72,590.3) (144,533.6) (288,500.6) (576,447.0)};
\addplot
coordinates {(36,685.3) (72,544.0) (144,477.0) (288,451.6)(576,430.0)};
\legend{\,1 CPU\hspace*{0.5cm},\,2 CPUs\hspace*{0.5cm},\,3 CPUs\hspace*{0.5cm},\,4 CPUs}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

Best Answer

You can use the key enlarge x limits=<factor> to add extra space on the sides. enlarge x limits=0.15 combined with ybar=0.6pt works quite well:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
[
    symbolic x coords={36,72,144,288,576},
    xtick=data,
    ylabel=Time in Seconds,
    every axis y label/.style={at={(ticklabel cs:0.5)},rotate=90,anchor=near ticklabel},
    xlabel=Memory in MB,
    every axis x label/.style={at={(ticklabel cs:0.5)},anchor=near ticklabel},
    legend style={at={(0.5,-0.25)},
    anchor=north,legend columns=-1},
    ybar,
    bar width=6pt,
    enlarge x limits=0.15
]
\addplot
coordinates {(36,1051.6) (72,875.0) (144,1099.3) (288,1114.6) (576,1054.3)};
\addplot
coordinates {(36,797.3) (72,717.6) (144,608.3) (288,591.6) (576,544.3)};
\addplot
coordinates {(36,735.3) (72,590.3) (144,533.6) (288,500.6) (576,447.0)};
\addplot
coordinates {(36,685.3) (72,544.0) (144,477.0) (288,451.6)(576,430.0)};
\legend{\,1 CPU\hspace*{0.5cm},\,2 CPUs\hspace*{0.5cm},\,3 CPUs\hspace*{0.5cm},\,4 CPUs}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

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