Multiple y axes on single x axis (2024)

% Create some data to work with

x = 0:.1:3;

y1 = exp(x);

y2 = log(x);

y3 = x.^2;

% Plot on the left and right y axes

figure

ax1 = axes;

yyaxis left % see [1]

plot(x,y1)

pause(0.1) % see [3]

% set the y(left) and x tick values, make them permanent

% This is the tricky part and shoudl receive a lot of thought when

% you adapt this to your code...

ax1.XTickMode = 'manual';

ax1.YTickMode = 'manual';

ax1.YLim = [min(ax1.YTick), max(ax1.YTick)]; % see [4]

ax1.XLimMode = 'manual';

grid(ax1,'on')

ytick = ax1.YTick;

yyaxis right % see [1]

plot(x,y2)

% create 2nd, transparent axes

ax2 = axes('position', ax1.Position);

plot(ax2,x,y3, 'k')

pause(0.1) % see [3]

ax2.Color = 'none';

grid(ax2, 'on')

% Horizontally scale the y axis to alight the grid (again, be careful!)

ax2.XLim = ax1.XLim;

ax2.XTick = ax1.XTick;

ax2.YLimMode = 'manual';

yl = ax2.YLim;

ax2.YTick = linspace(yl(1), yl(2), length(ytick)); % see [2]

% horzontally offset y tick labels

ax2.YTickLabel = strcat(ax2.YTickLabel, {' '});

% [1] https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/yyaxis.html

% [2] this is the critical step to align the grids. It assumes both

% axes contain ticks at the start and end of the y axis

% [3] For some reason when I step through the code, the plots appear

% as they should but when I run the code at it's natural speed

% there are graphics issues. It's as if code execution is

% ahead of the graphics which is annoying. A brief pause

% fixes this (r2019a)

% [4] Scaling is easier if the ticks begin and end at the axis limits

% Create some data to work with

x = 0:.1:3;

y1 = exp(x);

y2 = log(x);

y3 = x.^2;

% create the first axes with the two y axes

figure

yyh = plotyy(x,y1,x,y2); %see [1]

yyh(1).XTickMode = 'manual';

yyh(1).YTickMode = 'manual';

yyh(1).YLim = [min(yyh(1).YTick), max(yyh(1).YTick)]; % see [4]

yyh(1).XLimMode = 'manual';

grid(yyh(1),'on')

ytick = yyh(1).YTick;

% create 2nd, transparent axes

ax2 = axes('position', yyh(1).Position);

plot(ax2,x,y3, 'k')

pause(0.1) % see [3]

ax2.Color = 'none';

grid(ax2, 'on')

% Horizontally scale the y axis to alight the grid (again, be careful!)

ax2.XLim = yyh(1).XLim;

ax2.XTick = yyh(1).XTick;

ax2.YLimMode = 'manual';

yl = ax2.YLim;

ax2.YTick = linspace(yl(1), yl(2), length(ytick)); % see [2]

% horzontally offset y tick labels

ax2.YTickLabel = strcat(ax2.YTickLabel, {' '});

% [1] https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/plotyy.html

% [2] this is the critical step to align the grids. It assumes both

% axes contain ticks at the start and end of the y axis

% [3] For some reason when I step through the code, the plots appear

% as they should but when I run the code at it's natural speed

% there are graphics issues. It's as if code execution is

% ahead of the graphics which is annoying. A brief pause

% fixes this (r2019a)

% [4] Scaling is easier if the ticks begin and end at the axis limits

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