how to change order of legends?

I dont want to change the order of my plots, but I want to change the order in the legend list. How to do?

Answer 1

[David]

I think Mr. M means the following: In the figure GUI, after one has worked hard to generate a nice figure by combining the outputs of various scripts via copy + paste, how can one change the order of the legend?

In earlier versions of MATLAB, one could achieve this by cutting and repasting traces. They would then reappear at the bottom of the legend. So you would take the trace you want to be second, cut and paste it, then do the same for the third, all the way to the Nth, and then the legend would have the desired order. Now it is no longer possible to do this. The figure somehow remembers the position of the trace before it was cut.

But there is a WORK-AROUND! Simply cut the trace, paste it in onto a different axis of a different figure, then cut that trace and paste it back onto the original figure. This stymies matlab's attempt to remember the order of the trace and puts it onto the bottom of the legend.

[Navid Naderializadeh]

Great answer! Actually you don't need a separate figure to paste; just click and select the curves in the order you want, then press Ctrl+X and then immediately Ctrl+V.

[Jeremy Cribb]

Hi, Navid. Your suggestion works for older versions of matlab, in my experience up to 2014b. I haven't used versions between R2014b and R2017b. David's strategy was required for me to re-order in v2017b.

[Mr M.]

What is important for me is the layer-order of the curves. So I need a specific order, but another order in the legends.

[Walter Roberson]

Use https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/uistack.html

Answer 2

[Rick]

use this code to swap the order of two plots:

 plots=get(gca, 'Children');
 legend(plots(2, 1), {'Second line', 'First line'});

[Walter Roberson]

You probably mean

legend(plots([2, 1]), {'Second line', 'First line'});

Answer 3

[Liwei Wang]

Cut+paste is a good idea. But sometimes it won't work because the plots are pretty close to each other. An alternative approach is to change the order of the plots by code:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/30212-how-to-bring-a-plot-to-the-front-or-back-among-multiple-plots

answered by the cyclist.

Here is the copy of the code:

figure
scatter(rand(150,1),rand(150,1))
hold on
fill([0.2 0.5 0.5 0.2],[0.2 0.2 0.5 0.5],'r')
hg = line([0 0.6],[0.6 0]);
set(hg,'LineWidth',12,'Color','g')
h = get(gca,'Children');
set(gca,'Children',[h(3) h(2) h(1)])

Refresh legend then you will see the change.

[Giorgia Calisti]

Exactly what I was looking for!

Thank you

Answer 4

[Ed Rawi]

a = linspace(1,10,10);
b1 = sin(a);
Plot1 = plot(a,b1);
hold on
b2 = cos(a);
Plot2 = plot(a,b2);
hold off
legend([plot2 plot1],{‘Second’,’First’})

[Jim Bosley]

Last line needs plot handles capitalized, as they were defined.

a = linspace(1,10,10);
b1 = sin(a);
Plot1 = plot(a,b1);
hold on
b2 = cos(a);
Plot2 = plot(a,b2);
hold off
legend([Plot2 Plot1],{‘Second’,’First’})

[MCH]

@Ed: This solution works great

Answer 5

[Kris Govertsen]

This is how I was able to change the order of the legend on a figure with multiple subplots of area plots:

Before:

I want the order of the legend to follow the order of the colors in the area plot

% a is my figure
% If I type

If I type the following into the command window: a.Children... it returns:

% a.Children
% 
% ans = 
% 
%   5×1 graphics array:
% 
%   Legend    (Grid, VRFB error, VRFB Power, VRFB Energy, LIB error, LIB Power, LIB Energy, Solar, Tidal)
%   Axes      (Tidal RES)
%   Axes      (Solar PV RES)
%   Axes      (VRFB Cost)
%   Axes      (LIB Cost)

So a.Children(1) is my legend!

% Re-order Legend
lbl = a.Children(1).String;                         % Retrieve legend labels
numlbl = length(lbl);                               % Determine number of lables
order = sort(1:1:numlbl,'descend');                 % Create array of label numbers in descending order
newlbl = lbl(order);                                % Create new labels in descending order
legend(findobj(a.Children(2),'Type','area'),newlbl) % Set the legend to follow the new labels

hope this helps!

[Jan Heinsoth]

Nice, someone wanted to do the same as me. Thanks

Answer 6

[Steven Lord]

You can specify the handles in a particular order when you create the legend.

% Sample data
x = 0:360;
y1 = sind(x);
y2 = cosd(x);
y3 = tand(x);

% Set up axes
axis([0 360 -1 1])
hold on

% Create plots
h = gobjects(3, 1);
h(1) = plot(x, y1, 'DisplayName', 'sine');
h(2) = plot(x, y2, 'DisplayName', 'cosine');
h(3) = plot(x, y3, 'DisplayName', 'tangent');

% Create legend -- cosine first then sine and finally tangent
legend(h([2 1 3]))

Answer 7

[FM]

There is a good solution in the `Update` section of this post on Stack Overflow: http://stackoverflow.com/a/39104494/3230708

Answer 8

[George]

Is this something you are after, the question is not clear

x=magic(2);
plot(x(:,1));
hold
plot(x(:,2),'r');
legend('Data1','Data2');
%blue = Data1
%red=Data2

to change that simple reverse the string order

legend('Data2','Data1');

see also this http://nl.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/legend.html and this http://nl.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/legend-properties.html For more information on handling the legends

Answer 9

[sarmad a]

@David: you really saved my time !! Thanks

Answer 10

[Kris Govertsen]

This is how I was able to change the order of the legend on a figure with multiple subplots of area plots:

Before:

I want the order of the legend to follow the order of the colors in the area plot

% a is my figure
% If I type

If I type the following into the command window: a.Children... it returns:

% a.Children
% 
% ans = 
% 
%   5×1 graphics array:
% 
%   Legend    (Grid, VRFB error, VRFB Power, VRFB Energy, LIB error, LIB Power, LIB Energy, Solar, Tidal)
%   Axes      (Tidal RES)
%   Axes      (Solar PV RES)
%   Axes      (VRFB Cost)
%   Axes      (LIB Cost)

So a.Children(1) is my legend!

% Re-order Legend
lbl = a.Children(1).String;                         % Retrieve legend labels
numlbl = length(lbl);                               % Determine number of lables
order = sort(1:1:numlbl,'descend');                 % Create array of label numbers in descending order
newlbl = lbl(order);                                % Create new labels in descending order
legend(findobj(a.Children(2),'Type','area'),newlbl) % Set the legend to follow the new labels

hope this helps!