{"id":17123,"date":"2025-12-02T06:22:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/?p=17123"},"modified":"2025-12-08T15:47:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:47:03","slug":"matlab-zoomed-axes-showing-zoomed-in-regions-of-a-2d-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/2025\/12\/02\/matlab-zoomed-axes-showing-zoomed-in-regions-of-a-2d-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"MATLAB Zoomed Axes: Showing zoomed-in regions of a 2D plot"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mike's pick this week is Zoomed Axis<\/a> by Caleb Thomas<\/a>.<\/div>\r\n
Often, when we show a plot, there is some region that's of particular interest and so we want to zoom in on it and show that as well. Zoomed Axis is a new MATLAB add-on by Caleb Thomas that allows you to do exactly that. Here's an example<\/div>\r\n
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% Create dummy data<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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x = linspace(0,4*pi, 1201);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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y = sin(x) + cos(60*x)\/20;<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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% create figure and plot<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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f = figure('position'<\/span>, [696 276 960 614]);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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ax = axes(f, 'position'<\/span>, [0.1300 0.1100 0.7750 0.8150]);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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% plot data<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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ph = plot(x, y);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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% set axis range and labels<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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ax.XLim = [min(x), max(x)];<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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ax.XLimMode = 'Manual'<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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title(ax, ' Sample Signal'<\/span>, 'fontsize'<\/span>, 24);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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xlabel(ax, 'Space [m]'<\/span>);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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ylabel(ax, 'Amplitude'<\/span>);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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% create first zoomed object<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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zoomed_region = [0,0,1,1];<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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zax1 = zoomed_axes(ax, zoomed_region);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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zax1.Position = [0.341, 0.635, 0.174, 0.225];<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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zax1.ZoomRegion = [1.110, 0.844, 2.049, 1.096];<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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title(zax1, '(a)'<\/span>);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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% create second zoomed object<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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zax2 = zoomed_axes(ax, zoomed_region);<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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zax2.Position = [0.559, 0.178, 0.140, 0.194];<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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zax2.ZoomRegion = [10.417, -1.104, 11.626, -0.784];<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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title(zax2, '(b)'<\/span>);<\/span><\/div>\r\n
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<\/div>\r\n
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<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
The zoom-in regions are also fully interactive as shown in this video<\/div>\r\n