Trying to plot a CSV file - matlab

Question

I'm trying to plot a CSV file, and this is what it looks like:
Date Ebola: Case counts and deaths from the World Health Organization and WHO situation reports
3/22/2014 49
3/24/2014 86
3/25/2014 86
3/26/2014 86
3/27/2014 103
3/28/2014 112
3/29/2014 112
3/31/2014 122
4/1/2014 127
4/4/2014 143
4/7/2014 151
4/9/2014 158
4/11/2014 159
4/14/2014 168
4/16/2014 197
4/17/2014 203
4/20/2014 208
4/23/2014 218
4/26/2014 224
5/1/2014 226
5/3/2014 231
5/5/2014 235
5/7/2014 236
5/10/2014 233
5/12/2014 248
5/23/2014 258
5/27/2014 281
5/28/2014 291
6/1/2014 328
6/3/2014 344
6/10/2014 351
6/16/2014 398
6/18/2014 390
6/20/2014 390
6/30/2014 413
7/2/2014 412
7/6/2014 408
7/8/2014 409
7/12/2014 406
7/14/2014 411
7/17/2014 410
7/20/2014 415
7/23/2014 427
7/27/2014 460
7/30/2014 472
I imported it into my MATLAB workspace. Now I want to plot this data using MATLAB, but how do I do this? The variables I have for each column are Date and EbolaCaseCountsAndDeathsFromTheWorldHealthOrganizationAndWHOsit (sorry I don't know how to make the latter variable shorter).
I tried doing plot(Date, EbolaCa[...]) but it gives me an error. What is the right way to do it?

Answer 1

You must use both datenum() and datetick() to actually show dates on the x-axis. I was able to create your table snippet as follows:
T={'3/22/2014' 49
'3/24/2014' 86
'3/25/2014' 86
'3/26/2014' 86
'3/27/2014' 103
'3/28/2014' 112
'3/29/2014' 112
'3/31/2014' 122
'4/1/2014' 127
'4/4/2014' 143
'4/7/2014' 151
'4/9/2014' 158
'4/11/2014' 159
'4/14/2014' 168
'4/16/2014' 197
'4/17/2014' 203
'4/20/2014' 208
'4/23/2014' 218
'4/26/2014' 224
'5/1/2014' 226
'5/3/2014' 231
'5/5/2014' 235
'5/7/2014' 236
'5/10/2014' 233
'5/12/2014' 248
'5/23/2014' 258
'5/27/2014' 281
'5/28/2014' 291
'6/1/2014' 328
'6/3/2014' 344
'6/10/2014' 351
'6/16/2014' 398
'6/18/2014' 390
'6/20/2014' 390
'6/30/2014' 413
'7/2/2014' 412
'7/6/2014' 408
'7/8/2014' 409
'7/12/2014' 406
'7/14/2014' 411
'7/17/2014' 410
'7/20/2014' 415
'7/23/2014' 427
'7/27/2014' 460
'7/30/2014' 472};
T=cell2table(T);
T.Properties.VariableNames={'Date','Ebola'};
where the first column is composed by strings and the second column is composed by numbers. To generate the plot() you might want to do something like
figure(1);
plot(datenum(T.Date,'m/dd/yyyy'),T.Ebola);
datetick('x','dd/mmm/yyyy'); grid on;
which shows
However, feel free to adjust datenum() and datetick() format(s) as you wish.