How to align xlabels and ylabels in subplot in MATLAB - matlab

Question

I have the following code:
mean_h =[11.9877,13.3937,16.1717];
std_h = [12.5379,10.2732,10.8000];
subplot(2,1,1)
hold on
h = bar(1:3,mean_h,0.2);
errorbar(1:3,mean_h,std_h,'s','MarkerSize',10,...
'MarkerEdgeColor','red','MarkerFaceColor','red');
name = {'4 mics','9 mics','24 mics'};
set(gca,'XTick',[1 2 3],'XTickLabel',{'4 mics','9 mics','24 mics'});
set(gca,'fontsize', 21);
legend({'mean_{hor}', 'std_{hor}'});
grid on
xlabel(' 3 different subsets of horizontal microphone pair combinations of
microphone array 3');
ylabel('Mean/stds rmse`s [°]');
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%% Mean and standard devaiation for vertical rmse's of microphone array 3
mean_v =[7.3022,11.3737,16.2675];
std_v =[6.2369,9.9813,10.3599];
subplot(2,1,2)
hold on
h = bar(1:3,mean_v,0.2);
errorbar(1:3,mean_v,std_v,'s','MarkerSize',10,...
'MarkerEdgeColor','red','MarkerFaceColor','red');
name = {'4 mics','9 mics','24 mics'};
set(gca,'XTick',[1 2 3],'XTickLabel',{'4 mics','9 mics','24 mics'});
set(gca,'fontsize', 21);
legend({'mean_{ver}', 'std_{ver}'});
grid on
xlabel('3 different subsets of vertical microphone pair combinations of
microphone array 3');
ylabel('Mean/stds rmse`s [°]');
Now when i plot these two subplots i am facing an alignment problem in xlabels and ylabels . They are not aligned. Can anybody help me how can i fix this problem. Thanks

Answer 1

They don't align if the graphs are different. In your case the numbers are different.
You can either do it by hand or use a text(my_x, my_y,'mylabel') and set it up properly. I wrote an example below.
a=1:10;
b=a.^2;
subplot(4,1,1)
plot(a,b)
ylabel(' long text')
subplot(4,1,2)
plot(a,a)
ylabel('long even long text')
subplot(4,1,3)
hold
plot(a,b)
text(0,50,'long text','HorizontalAlignment','center','VerticalAlignment','middle', ...
'FontSize',12,'Rotation',90)
subplot(4,1,4)
hold
plot(a,a)
text(0,5,'long even long text','HorizontalAlignment','center','VerticalAlignment','middle', ...
'FontSize',12,'Rotation',90)
giving the graph below
Notice the last two are aligned, but it was necessary to input the coordinates by hand as i did.
As a tip, you often ca use your data and move it by a fixed percentage (e.g., the minimum -10% graph total length), making it possible to 'automate' your script.
Another way is to use the Position property of the ylabel. But this is similar to the method described above. To do so use
t=ylabel('long text')
t =
Text ( long text) with properties:
String: ' long text'
FontSize: 11
FontWeight: 'normal'
FontName: 'Helvetica'
Color: [0.15 0.15 0.15]
HorizontalAlignment: 'center'
Position: [0.3333 50 -1]
%other things here too
%overwrite the property
% Here you have to put [X_position Y_position Z_position]
t.Position= [0.2 50 -1];
For that to work, every x/ylabel need its own name, or same name, but update the position before you call the command again.