How to eliminate gap between tile charts

Hey guys,

I am trying to create a graph with 3 sections, each with a different x axis but the y axis is the same throughout. I used tile chart layout learnt from https://au.mathworks.com/help/matlab/creating_plots/graph-with-multiple-x-axes-and-y-axes.html and set TileSpacing = 'none', but there is still a gap between the sections as shown in the picture. How do you eliminate the gaps between the sections?

x = 0:0.1:60;
y1 = 4.*cos(x)./(x+2);
y2 = 5*sin(x)+0.5
figure
t = tiledlayout(1,3,'TileSpacing','none'); %no tile spacing?
bgAx = axes(t,'XTick',[],'Ytick',[],'Box','off');
bgAx.Layout.TileSpan = [1 3];

%plot part 1
ax1 = axes(t);
plot(ax1,x,y2);
xline(ax1,15,':');
ax1.Box = 'off'; 
xlim(ax1,[0 15])
xlabel(ax1,'First Interval')

%plot part 2
ax2 = axes(t);
ax2.Layout.Tile = 2
plot(ax2,x,y1)
xline(ax2,15,':'); 
xline(ax2,45,':');
ax2.YAxis.Visible = 'off';
ax2.Box = 'off';
xlim(ax2,[15 45])
xlabel(ax2, 'Second Interval')

%plot part 3
ax3 = axes(t);
ax3.Layout.Tile = 3
plot(ax3,x,y2)
xline(ax3,50,':'); 
ax3.YAxis.Visible = 'off';
ax3.Box = 'off';
xlim(ax3,[50 60])
xlabel(ax3, 'Third Interval')

%link axes
linkaxes([ax1 ax2 ax3],'y') 

[Scott MacKenzie]

Just FYI, I ran your code (without studying it), and don't see the gap you note...

[Mengyuan Li]

What version are you running on?

[Scott MacKenzie]

I'm running R2021a. Clearly, Adam's answer is spot on. Good luck.

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

Update to Matlab R2021a to take advantage of the new tile spacing when TileSpacing is set to none.

See New in R2021a: Improvements to tiled chart layout for a demonstration.

The only other way to set juxtaposed axes is by setting axes position manually this template:

nAxes = 3;
axXPos = linspace(0.05, .95, nAxes+1); % For axes that span 0.05 to 0.95 horizontally
axXPos(end) = []; 
axWidth = axXPos(2) - axXPos(1); 
ax = gobjects(size(axXPos));
for i =1:numel(axXPos)
    ax(i) = axes('Units','Normalized','Position',[axXPos(i),.2,axWidth,.4]);
    box(ax(i), 'on')
end
set(ax(2:end),'YTickLabel', {})
linkaxes(ax,'y') % If you want to use the same y-ticks for all axes

To turn off y-axis lines,

ax(i).YAxis.Visible = 'off';

[Mengyuan Li]

Thanks Adam! So I assume TileSpacing = 'none' does not work properly in older versions?

[Adam Danz]

TileSpacing works differently in versions prior to R2021a. The link I provided explains that.

TileSpacing=none in releases prior to R2021a is the same as TileSpacing=Tight in Matlab R2021a+ and "none" was redfined as having no space between axes.