How to give one x and y axis label when using tiled layout('flow')?

I am using tiled layout('flow') to plot a series of 20 plots on one figure. I want to have just one x and one y label for the entire figure, but when I try using the following code I get a figure that plots every subplot over each other.

figure()

t=tiledlayout('flow');

autoCorr = zeros(ceil(length(dataSource)),N);

lag = zeros(ceil(length(dataSource)),N);

for ii=1:N

[autoCorr(:,ii),lag(:,ii)] = autocorrelation(dataSource(:,ii));

nexttile(t)

plot(lag(:,ii),autoCorr(:,ii))

end

title(t,'title')

xlabel(t,'xlabel')

ylabel(t,'ylabel')

When I use this code the plot works fine but I'm not sure how to add the x and y axis labels.

autoCorr = zeros(ceil(length(dataSource)),N);

lag = zeros(ceil(length(dataSource)),N);

figure()

tiledlayout('flow')

for ii=1:N

[autoCorr(:,ii),lag(:,ii)] = autocorrelation(dataSource(:,ii));

nexttile

plot(lag(:,ii),autoCorr(:,ii))

% xlim([100,fmax])

end

Answer 1

[Cris LaPierre]

Use the xlabel and ylabel functions with the first input being your tiled layout object. The code below is taken from this example.

t = tiledlayout(2,2,'TileSpacing','Compact');

% Tile 1
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))
title('Sample 1')

% Tile 2
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))
title('Sample 2')

% Tile 3
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))
title('Sample 3')

% Tile 4
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))

title(t,'Size vs. Distance')
xlabel(t,'Distance (mm)')
ylabel(t,'Size (mm)')

[Eric J]

Got the same issue when using tiltedlayout('flow'). It seems that this issue occurs only when using the 'flow' option. The accepted answer doesn't work for me.

[Cris LaPierre]

Please share an example where it does not work.

If I chage the code above to use 'flow' instead of 'compact', it works.

t = tiledlayout('flow');

% Tile 1
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))
title('Sample 1')

% Tile 2
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))
title('Sample 2')

% Tile 3
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))
title('Sample 3')

% Tile 4
nexttile
plot(rand(1,20))

title(t,'Size vs. Distance')
xlabel(t,'Distance (mm)')
ylabel(t,'Size (mm)')

[Eric J]

Actually I tested the example you provided again and it works now. It seems there is some issue with my code in plotting. Thanks!

[Cunxin Huang]

But what can I do under the case where I have a 4*6 figure and I want only the first and the second row share the same ylabel? Thank you

[Cris LaPierre]

I don't know of a way to add a shared label to a subset of the plots. In this case, I suggest labeling each Y axis individually

[Gorp Gorp]

Hey there, you could do it with nested tiled layouts:

t0 = tiledlayout(1,2,'TileSpacing','tight');

%coloumn 1
t1 = tiledlayout(t0,3,1);
t1.Layout.Tile=1;
for i=1:3
    nexttile(t1);
    imagesc([]);
    title(num2str(i))
end
title(t1,'Title','FontWeight','bold');
ylabel(t1,'Pixel','FontWeight','bold');
xlabel(t1,'Pixel','FontWeight','bold');

%coloumn 2
t2=tiledlayout(t0,3,1);
t2.Layout.Tile=2;
for i=1:3
    nexttile(t2);
    imagesc([]);
    title(num2str(i))
end
title(t2,'Title','FontWeight','bold');
ylabel(t2,'Pixel','FontWeight','bold');
xlabel(t2,'Pixel','FontWeight','bold');