Stair Plots in MATLAB^®

Plot Single Data Series

Create a stairstep plot of sine evaluated at 40 equally spaced values between 0 and 4π.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,40);
Y = sin(X);

figure
stairs(Y)

fig2plotly(gcf);

The length of Y automatically determines and generates the x-axis scale.

Plot Multiple Data Series

Create a stairstep plot of two cosine functions evaluated at 50 equally spaced values between 0 and 4π.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,50)';
Y = [0.5*cos(X), 2*cos(X)];

figure
stairs(Y)

fig2plotly(gcf);

The number of rows in Y automatically determines and generates the x-axis scale.

Plot Single Data Series at Specified x-Values

Create a stairstep plot of a sine wave evaluated at equally spaced values between 0 and 4π. Specify the set of x-values for the plot.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,40);
Y = sin(X);

figure
stairs(X,Y)

fig2plotly(gcf);

The entries in Y are plotted against the corresponding entries in X.

Plot Multiple Data Series at Specified x-Values

Create a stairstep plot of two cosine waves evaluated at equally spaced values between 0 and 4π. Specify the set of x-values for the plot.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,50)';
Y = [0.5*cos(X), 2*cos(X)];

figure
stairs(X,Y)

fig2plotly(gcf);

The first vector input, X, determines the x-axis positions for both data series.

Plot Multiple Data Series at Unique Sets of x-Values

Create a stairstep plot of two sine waves evaluated at different values. Specify a unique set of x-values for plotting each data series.

x1 = linspace(0,2*pi)';
x2 = linspace(0,pi)';
X = [x1,x2];
Y = [sin(5*x1),exp(x2).*sin(5*x2)];

figure
stairs(X,Y)

fig2plotly(gcf);

Each column of X is plotted against the corresponding column of Y.

Specify Line Style, Marker Symbol and Color

Create a stairstep plot and set the line style to a dot-dashed line, the marker symbol to circles, and the color to red.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,20);
Y = sin(X);

figure
stairs(Y, '-.or')

fig2plotly(gcf);

Specify Additional Style Options

Create a stairstep plot and set the line width to 2, the marker symbols to diamonds, and the marker face color to cyan using Name,Value pair arguments.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,20);
Y = sin(X);

figure
stairs(Y,'LineWidth',2,'Marker','d','MarkerFaceColor','c')

fig2plotly(gcf);

Specify Axes for Stairstep Plots

Starting in R2019b, you can display a tiling of plots using the tiledlayout and nexttile functions. Call the tiledlayout function to create a 2-by-1 tiled chart layout. Call the nexttile function to create the axes objects ax1 and ax2. Create separate stairstep plots in the axes by specifying the axes object as the first argument to stairs.

x = linspace(0,2*pi);
y1 = 5*sin(x);
y2 = sin(5*x);
tiledlayout(2,1)

% Top plot
ax1 = nexttile;
stairs(ax1,x,y1)

% Bottom plot
ax2 = nexttile;  
stairs(ax2,x,y2)

fig2plotly(gcf);

Modify Stairstep Plot After Creation

Create a stairstep plot of two data series and return the two stair objects.

X = linspace(0,1,30)';
Y = [cos(10*X), exp(X).*sin(10*X)];
h = stairs(X,Y);

fig2plotly(gcf);

Use small circle markers for the first data series. Use magenta filled circles for the second series. Use dot notation to set properties.

X = linspace(0,1,30)';
Y = [cos(10*X), exp(X).*sin(10*X)];
h = stairs(X,Y);

h(1).Marker = 'o';
h(1).MarkerSize = 4;
h(2).Marker = 'o';
h(2).MarkerFaceColor = 'm';

fig2plotly(gcf);

Create a Stairstep Plot using plot Function

Evaluate two cosine functions at 50 equally spaced values between 0 and 4π and create a stairstep plot using plot.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,50)';
Y = [0.5*cos(X), 2*cos(X)];
[xb,yb] = stairs(X,Y);

stairs returns two matrices of the same size, xb and yb, but no plot.

Use plot to create the stairstep plot with xb and yb.

X = linspace(0,4*pi,50)';
Y = [0.5*cos(X), 2*cos(X)];
[xb,yb] = stairs(X,Y);

figure
plot(xb,yb)

fig2plotly(gcf);