Adding vertical line to plot?

Hi there, Can anyone please tell me how I can add a vertical line to my plot at a specified sample point? For example, I have a a 1x41 vector of intensity values, and I would like to add a vertical line on the center sample (sample number 21). Many thanks!

[Paulo Silva]

fig=figure; 
hax=axes; 
x=0:0.1:10; 
hold on 
plot(x,sin(x)) 
SP=1; %your point goes here 
line([SP SP],get(hax,'YLim'),'Color',[1 0 0])

[Benita]

(4x3+y3 )dx+(3xy²-8y3)dy=0

[Walter Roberson]

@Benita

Please read http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/6200-tutorial-how-to-ask-a-question-on-answers-and-get-a-fast-answer

Answer 1

[Michelle Hirsch]

Woohoo - this is built into MATLAB now, as of R2018b! 

If you are running R2018b or later, you can use the “xline” and “yline” functions. For example, create a vertical line at x=5:

xline(5)

Create a horizontal line at y=10:

yline(10)

Starting in R2021a, you can create multiple horizontal or vertical lines in one pass. For example, create vertical lines at x=1, x=2, and x=3:

xline([1 2 3])

If you are running R2018a or earlier, use the “plot” function with this pattern:

Horizontal line:

 plot([x1 x2],[y y])

Vertical line:

plot([x x],[y1 y2])

For example, plot a vertical line at x = 21. Set the y values using the y-axis limits of the axes.

y = ylim; % current y-axis limits
plot([21 21],[y(1) y(2)])

[John D'Errico]

There is one thing that frustrates me about yline and xline (I do love them, don't get me wrong.)

A standard MATLAB paradigm has always been that if you don't have a return argument, then none is returned, at least from functions that return handles. For example,

>> plot(rand(5),'.')
>>

Returns nothing. However, if I wish to get the handle, then I can. Just specify a return argument. Essentially, plot checks nargout before it exits.

H = plot(1:5)
H = 
  Line with properties:

              Color: [0 0 1]
          LineStyle: '-'
          LineWidth: 0.5
             Marker: 'none'
         MarkerSize: 6
    MarkerFaceColor: 'none'
              XData: [1 2 3 4 5]
              YData: [1 2 3 4 5]
              ZData: [1×0 double]

  Show all properties

This is compeltely standard behavior in MATLAB. ANY function that returns a graphics handle has always operated that way.

HOWEVER, xline and yline fail to follow that standard paradigm. They ALWAYS return a handle to the line as created.

xline(2)
ans = 
  ConstantLine with properties:

    InterceptAxis: 'x'
            Value: 2
            Color: [0.15 0.15 0.15]
        LineStyle: '-'
        LineWidth: 0.5
            Label: ''
      DisplayName: ''

  Show all properties

Some of the time it is useful to get the handle. But if I want it, then I can always grab it as an output argument. Would it have been that difficult to check to see if an output argument was requested? All the authors of xline and yline needed to do was one simple check at the end of the code:

if nargout == 0
    clear YL % or whatever is the internal name of the handle variable
end

My point is, MATLAB functions should ALWAYS be consistent in how they work.

I should never need to remember to add a semi-colon after calls to functions like xline and yline to kill the spurious and unwanted graphics handle being dumped to the command window. Essentially, I consider this a bug in the code of those two functions.

Update: the unrequested output issue was fixed in R2020a.

[Jairo Domech]

this code is nice thank you guys.

[Peter Beringer]

Can this also be used to create a vertical line on the Z axis?

[Peter Beringer]

There is a function call 'zline', but it doesn't do what I'd hoped.

Basically, I want to add a vertical line to a trisurf plot at x = 5.5 and y = 5.5, with the line extending up along the z axis to the maximum Z value (or some aribtrary 'max Z value', 60 will do).

Is such a thing even possible?

[Walter Roberson]

xline() and yline() have behavior built into them that they show up no matter how you pan or zoom (provided that the reference values are within range.)

As you do not appear to need that behavior, you can use

ZL = zlim();
line([x x], [y y], [ZL(1), 60])

[Christopher Thomas]

hello....

I'm trying to use

>> vline(x) to insert onto a plot

but I get the message 'Unrecognized function or variable 'vline'.'

Does anyone know why this is? I'm using R2020b and following a video tutorial on R2019a....

[Walter Roberson]

in https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/2031-adding-vertical-line-to-plot#answer_207851 Michelle posted a link to a file exchange contribution that defines vline.

[Roberto Chang]

Hello all! do you know if this magical (awesome) feature can be done in Z axis for bar3?

[Charles]

Hi Michelle Hirsch

Thank you for clear answer. I find plotting in MATLAB a little confusing

[Steven Lord]

@Roberto Chang There is no equivalent function (like zline) to xline and yline. But as of release R2024b there is a function that I think will satisfy your needs to create a way to identify a constant Z value: constantplane.

x = randn(1, 1e6);
y = randn(1, 1e6);
histogram2(x, y, Normalization = 'cdf')
constantplane('z', 0.5, DisplayName = "z = 0.5")
constantplane('x', 0, DisplayName = "x = 0", FaceColor = 'r')
constantplane('y', 0, DisplayName = "y = 0", FaceColor = 'c')
legend show

Maybe not the most visually appealing example I've written, but it should show the functionality.

Answer 2

[Muhammad]

line([x x], [y1 y2]); is the easy command;

[Ryuji Segawa]

you are a genius!

[Bin Miao]

Thanks!

[Claire Flashman]

Thank you!

[Christian Sanchez]

Genial

Answer 3

[carolina franco]

You can plot a horizontal or vertical line using the “plot” function with this pattern:

- Horizontal line:

plot([x1 x2],[y y])

- Vertical line:

plot([x x],[y1 y2])

For example, plot a vertical line at x = 21. Set the y values using the y-axis limits of the axes.

y = ylim; % current y-axis limits

plot([21 21],[y(1) y(2)])

As Steven suggested, starting in R2018b, you can use the “xline” and “yline” functions instead. For more information, see:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/xline.html

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/yline.html

[Junayed Chowdhury]

This one works fantastically...Thanks a lot :D cheers!!

[Camilo Malagon Nieto]

This is AMAZING!!! because it makes the line automatically covering the data area of the plot. So I do not need to do extra work of finding where the line should start and should end. It works for several different plots that had diferent y-axis ranges.

[Edward Manson]

What an absolute god, thankyou

[Rasmus Ringsborg Nielsen]

Thank you so much, works perfect!!

Answer 4

[Mark]

Probably the simplest way:

Choose the x-value where you want the line "xval." Choose the minimum y value to be displayed on your graph "ymin" and the maximum y value to be displayed on your graph "ymax."

x=[xval,xval];
y=[ymin,ymax];
plot(x,y)

Flaws with this method: probably will look silly if you use '-x' or '-.', these mark your specific points on the line, but you'll only have two (at least they're endpoints).

Answer 5

[Steven Lord]

If you're using release R2018b or later, use the xline or yline functions to create lines with constant x or y values respectively.

[Gary Bikini]

Best answer!

Answer 6

[the cyclist]

One way:

 figure
 x = rand(1,41);
 y = 1:41;
 plot(x,y,'r.');
 line([x(21) x(21)],[0 41]);
 set(gca,'YLim',[0 41])

Answer 7

[James]

There is an excellent answer over on http://stackoverflow.com/a/8108766/1194420 repeated below for convenience. ---

There exist an undocumented function graph2d.constantline:

plot(-2:5, (-2:5).^2-1)

%# vertical line
hx = graph2d.constantline(0, 'LineStyle',':', 'Color',[.7 .7 .7]);
changedependvar(hx,'x');

%# horizontal line
hy = graph2d.constantline(0, 'Color',[.7 .7 .7]);
changedependvar(hy,'y');

[Steven]

Why is there no documentation on this function? It works great but it is difficult to motivate putting undocumented methods in code that I share with others.

[Ben]

@Steven That's because undocumented features can be removed at any time, as this feature was.

[Adrian Peters]

Sorry, but what does (-2:5).^2-1 do? I dont know, how to calculate the ^2-1.

[Walter Roberson]

-2:5 is the list of values -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 . The .^2 squares each element of the list giving you 4 1 0 1 4 9 16 25 . Then you subtract 1 from each giving you 3 0 -1 0 3 8 15 24

[Adrian Peters]

Now it makes sense to me! Thank you a lot!

Answer 8

[Pedro Luis Camuñas García-Miguel]

Maybe it is a bit late but I want to contribute, there is a really easy way to add vertical and horizontal lines, you just have to use a hold and then overlap them over the main plot.

Before declaring the original plot, add a hold on to ensure it will retain both plots, then plot the lines, with this structure:

hold on;
plot(the main function)
plot([x x],[0 y_max])        % Vertical Line
plot([o x_max],[y y])        % Horizontal line

Being:

x: location on horizontal axis where you place the vertical line.

y: location on vertical axis where you place the horizontal line.

x_max: point where you want the vertical line to end.

y_max: point where you want the horizontal line to end.

I hope this was useful to whoever consults this page.

[Walter Roberson]

If you use line() instead of plot() then you do not need the "hold". line() is one of the primitives that always adds to the current plot; it is the "high level plotting routines" that clear the current axes before plotting and need the "hold"

[Pedro Luis Camuñas García-Miguel]

Thanks!

Answer 9

[Julian Williams]

Small additional suggestion, say you want to label your line in the legend so that it has some meaning, or take advantage of some of the easy to use options in plot, then using "hold", the ylim from the current axis and the "repmat" is very useful. You can also make multiple vertical lines with some spacing using this technique.

figure
% make some sort of illustration
T = 1000;
A = 0.7;
h = [];
Y = cumsum(sqrt(0.05).*randn(T,1));
X = (1:T)./T;
I = find(X>A);
Y(I) = Y(I(1));
h(1) = plot(X,Y,'-k','linewidth',2);
hold on
dims = get(gca,'ylim');
yy = linspace(dims(1),dims(2),100);
xx = repmat(A,1,100);
h(2) = plot(xx,yy,':r','linewidth',2);

dims = get(gca,'xlim');
xx = linspace(dims(1),dims(2).*A,100);
yy = repmat(Y(I(1)),1,100);
h(3) = plot(xx,yy,':b','linewidth',2);

grid on
G = legend(h,'Particle Motion','Stopping Point','Stopped Value');
set(G,'location','best','interpreter','latex');

Just a thought.

Answer 10

[Guy Cohen]

You can use arrayfun

x=1:180;
figure;plot(x,sind(x)); %-- your graph
vLines=[20 40 50 120];%-- vector of lines to plot
hold on; arrayfun(@xline,vLines);%-- plot vertical lines

[Walter Roberson]

@Guy Cohen

You could, but xline accepts a vector of values, so you can just

x=1:180;
plot(x,sind(x)); %-- your graph
xline([20 40 50 120])

[Guy Cohen]

Agree, but xline accepts a vector only in the latest versions

[Walter Roberson]

@Guy Cohen

It looks like xline starts handling vectors in either R2020a or R2020b (not sure which at the moment.)

Answer 11

[Jos (10584)]

You might also be interested in GRIDXY on the File Exchange:

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/9973-gridxy--v2-2-feb-2008-

Answer 12

[amit]

%% generation of tanwave
clear all
close all
x=0:0.001:20;
a=2;
y=a*cos(x);
plot(x,y);
xlabel ("time axis")
ylabel("amplitude")
title("tanwave")
grid on

[Walter Roberson]

This does not generate tan wave -- it generates cosine wave.

It is not clear how this code is intended to satisfy the question of how to generate reference lines?