Handling and eliminating multiples entries in MatLab legend - matlab

Question

I currently want to have the legend of graph, however i'm plotting several lines that should be group in only 3 types.
My currently option is to use a dummy plot out of the boundaries, plotting the relevant data and calling the legend just at the end. It works but it is prone to errors. I wanted to update the legend and select just a few of the plots.
I tried to use the leg_handle.String, but then it comes two problems:
It still plot 5 handles instead of 3.
It does not have the proper line style & color.
Any ideas?
Bellow follow the code (with dummy plot commented) and the pictures of the current version giving the error and what i want to look.
clear
figure()
hold on
%using
%dummy plot
% leg_text={'a','b','c'};
% plot(100,100,'-r')
% plot(100,100,'-b')
% plot(100,100,'-k')
for ii=1:20,
plot(1:11,linspace(0,ii,11),'-r')
end
for ii=30:50,
plot(1:11,linspace(0,ii,11),'-b')
end
for ii=70:80,
plot(1:11,linspace(ii,25,11),'-k')
end
Yaxl=[-1 80];
Xaxl=[1 11];
set(gca, 'Visible','on', ...
'Box','on', ...
'Layer','top',...
'Xlim',Xaxl, ...
'Ylim',Yaxl);
%using
% legend(leg_text)
%want to use
leg_hand=legend(gca,'show');
leg_hand.String=leg_hand.String([1 21 42]);
%extra comand will give the things that i wanted above
% leg_hand.String=leg_hand.String([1 2 3]);
What it gives:
What I expect to have:
I have tried this method using [a,b,c,d]=legend, but this give only the a handle that i already using.

Answer 1

This little workaround should do the job:
clear();
figure();
hold on;
h = gobjects(3,1);
for ii = 1:20
h(1) = plot(1:11,linspace(0,ii,11),'-r');
end
for ii = 30:50
h(2) = plot(1:11,linspace(0,ii,11),'-b');
end
for ii = 70:80
h(3) = plot(1:11,linspace(ii,25,11),'-k');
end
set(gca,'Box','on','Layer','top','Visible','on','Xlim',[1 11],'Ylim',[-1 80]);
legend(h,'A','B','C');
hold off;
Actually, what I did is very simple. I created an array of graphical objects of size 3 (one for each iteration) using the gobjects function. Then, inside each iteration, I assigned the last plotted line to its respective array placeholder. Finally, I created the legend using the three graphical objects I previously stored.
Alternatively:
clear();
figure();
hold on;
h1 = gobjects(20,1);
for ii = 1:20
h1(ii) = plot(1:11,linspace(0,ii,11),'-r');
end
h2 = gobjects(21,1);
for ii = 30:50
h2(ii-29) = plot(1:11,linspace(0,ii,11),'-b');
end
h3 = gobjects(11,1);
for ii = 70:80
h3(ii-69) = plot(1:11,linspace(ii,25,11),'-k');
end
set(gca,'Box','on','Layer','top','Visible','on','Xlim',[1 11],'Ylim',[-1 80]);
legend([h1(1) h2(1) h3(1)],'A','B','C');
hold off;
You create an array of graphical objects for storing the plot handlers produced by every iteration. Then you create the legend using the first (basically, any) item of each array of graphical objects.