getting the axis position correctly

I can get the position of the axis easily

figure,plot([0 1], [0 1])
axis equal
AxesHandle=findobj(gcf,'Type','axes');
get(AxesHandle,'Position')

However when I modify the axis limits the axis position does not update.

axis tight
get(AxesHandle,'Position')

still gives me the same answer. How do I get the correct axis position in the second case?

Answer 1

[Matt Fig]

What changes is the tightinset property and plotboxaspectratio.

figure,plot([0 1], [0 1])
axis equal
AxesHandle=findobj(gcf,'Type','axes');
pt1 = get(AxesHandle,{'Position','tightinset','PlotBoxAspectRatio'});
pt1{:}
axis tight
pt2 = get(AxesHandle,{'Position','tightinset','PlotBoxAspectRatio'});
pt2{:}

[Paulo Silva]

Interesting information, +1 vote

[dk]

This was helpful. However in the case below the distance from the plot area to the edge of the figure is changing. However neither the position nor the tightinset properties are changing.

figure,plot([0 1], [0 1])

set(gcf,'position', [ -1904 468 1831 420])

axis equal

axis tight

AxesHandle=findobj(gcf,'Type','axes');

pt1 = get(AxesHandle,{'Position','tightinset'}); % [left bottom right top]

pt1{:}

set(gcf,'position', [ -1904 468 793 420])

pt2 = get(AxesHandle,{'Position','tightinset'});

pt2{:}

[Matt Fig]

All you are doing here is moving the figure around. Of course this doesn't change the axes properties! Why would you think that moving the figure around would change the axes properties?

Also, you can use GCA to get the axes handle, just like GCF gets the figure handle...

[Matt Fig]

If you want to get the distance between the edge of the figure and the axis plot area, you need to stop using normalized units and switch to pixels. Then you will see a change.....

figure,plot([0 1], [0 1])

set(gcf,'position', [104 468 1831 420])

axis equal

axis tight

set(gca,'units','pix')

pt1 = get(gca,{'Position','tightinset'}); % [left bottom right top]

set(gca,'units','norm')

pt1{:}

input('Hit return to continue...');

set(gcf,'position', [104 468 793 420])

set(gca,'units','pix')

pt2 = get(gca,{'Position','tightinset'});

set(gca,'units','norm')

pt2{:}

Answer 2

[Kelly Kearney]

I wrote a little function that analyzes the aspect ratios and calculates the plotted axis region:

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/9615-plotboxpos

Should return exactly what you're looking for.

[dk]

Thank you. You are right, this is what I was looking for.

[Yujendra Mitikiri]

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed, in order to add annotations after making "axis equal."

Answer 3

[Paulo Silva]

The position remains the same, don't believe me? go to Tools and press Edit Plot, now click on the axis :)

One thing that do change is the:

xlim

[dk]

I know the matlab axis position property is not changing. What I want is the position of the actual plotting area.