How to remove a default generated legend item from a figure plot of MATLAB?

Hi All,

I tried to remove one of the legend item (data 1) as shown below which had been generated default using the legend box icon on the figure pallete, however, it was unsuccessful to do that.

Please could you let me know how this can be done retaining the rest of the legend items, deleting data 1 legend from the legend bar.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to hear from you soon.

% Read the excel file using readtable function
rawTable = readtable('Final Filtered Catalogued Object Data - Copy.xlsx','Sheet','Final Data');
x = rawTable.ApogeeAltitude; %: get the excel column, ApogeeAltitude(Km) (header name)
y1 = rawTable.RocketBody; %: get the excel column, RocketBody (header name)
y2 = rawTable.Debris; %: get the excel column, Debris (header name)
y3 = rawTable.Payload; %: get the excel column, Payload (header name)
figure;
s=stairs(x,y1);
set(gca, 'ylim', [0 55],'TickLabelInterpreter','latex');
set(gcf,'color','w');
hold on
p1 = xline(590,'r');
hold on
p2 = xline(610,'b');
hold on
p3 = xline(630,'color',[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]);
hold on
BB = min(s.YData); 
X = [s.XData(1),repelem(s.XData(2:end),2)];
Y = [repelem(s.YData(1:end-1),2),s.YData(end)];
fill([X,fliplr(X)],[Y,BB*ones(size(Y))], [0.65 0.65 0.65]);
hold off
xlabel('Apogee Altitude (Km)','Interpreter','latex');
ylabel('Number of Catalogued Objects','Interpreter','latex');

[Dyuman Joshi]

Where is the call to legend()?

[Rufiya]

Hello Dyuman,

I added those legend shown on the figure using directly the legend feature available on the figure palette.

I did not add any coding for the legend on the above copied script and would request you to let me know what possible modification can enable me to remove the data 1 legend item on the graph?

[Dyuman Joshi]

Can you attach your data? The excel file? Use the paperclip button to attach.

[Rufiya]

Final Filtered Catalogued Object Data - Copy.zip - This is the data

Answer 1

[Voss]

One way to prevent the 'data1' line from appearing in the legend is to set its 'HandleVisibility' to 'off'. See below.

unzip('Final Filtered Catalogued Object Data - Copy.zip')

% Read the excel file using readtable function
rawTable = readtable('Final Filtered Catalogued Object Data - Copy.xlsx','Sheet','Final Data');

Warning: Column headers from the file were modified to make them valid MATLAB identifiers before creating variable names for the table. The original column headers are saved in the VariableDescriptions property.
Set 'VariableNamingRule' to 'preserve' to use the original column headers as table variable names.

x = rawTable.ApogeeAltitude; %: get the excel column, ApogeeAltitude(Km) (header name)
y1 = rawTable.RocketBody; %: get the excel column, RocketBody (header name)
y2 = rawTable.Debris; %: get the excel column, Debris (header name)
y3 = rawTable.Payload; %: get the excel column, Payload (header name)
figure;
s=stairs(x,y1,'HandleVisibility','off');
set(gca, 'ylim', [0 55],'TickLabelInterpreter','latex');
set(gcf,'color','w');
hold on
p1 = xline(590,'r');
p2 = xline(610,'b');
p3 = xline(630,'color',[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]);
BB = min(s.YData); 
X = [s.XData(1),repelem(s.XData(2:end),2)];
Y = [repelem(s.YData(1:end-1),2),s.YData(end)];
fill([X,fliplr(X)],[Y,BB*ones(size(Y))], [0.65 0.65 0.65]);
hold off
xlabel('Apogee Altitude (Km)','Interpreter','latex');
ylabel('Number of Catalogued Objects','Interpreter','latex');
legend({'590 Km Altitude','610 Km Altitude','630 Km Altitude','Rocket Body'},'EdgeColor','none')

[Voss]

Another way is to tell legend() which objects to make the legend for, and omit the Stair object.

unzip('Final Filtered Catalogued Object Data - Copy.zip')

% Read the excel file using readtable function
rawTable = readtable('Final Filtered Catalogued Object Data - Copy.xlsx','Sheet','Final Data');

Warning: Column headers from the file were modified to make them valid MATLAB identifiers before creating variable names for the table. The original column headers are saved in the VariableDescriptions property.
Set 'VariableNamingRule' to 'preserve' to use the original column headers as table variable names.

x = rawTable.ApogeeAltitude; %: get the excel column, ApogeeAltitude(Km) (header name)
y1 = rawTable.RocketBody; %: get the excel column, RocketBody (header name)
y2 = rawTable.Debris; %: get the excel column, Debris (header name)
y3 = rawTable.Payload; %: get the excel column, Payload (header name)
figure;
s=stairs(x,y1);
set(gca, 'ylim', [0 55],'TickLabelInterpreter','latex');
set(gcf,'color','w');
hold on
p1 = xline(590,'r');
p2 = xline(610,'b');
p3 = xline(630,'color',[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]);
BB = min(s.YData); 
X = [s.XData(1),repelem(s.XData(2:end),2)];
Y = [repelem(s.YData(1:end-1),2),s.YData(end)];
hf = fill([X,fliplr(X)],[Y,BB*ones(size(Y))], [0.65 0.65 0.65]);
hold off
xlabel('Apogee Altitude (Km)','Interpreter','latex');
ylabel('Number of Catalogued Objects','Interpreter','latex');
legend([p1,p2,p3,hf],{'590 Km Altitude','610 Km Altitude','630 Km Altitude','Rocket Body'},'EdgeColor','none')

[Rufiya]

Dear Voss,

Thanks a lot for the quick help ! Your code worked for me.

[Voss]

You're welcome!

Answer 2

[phenan08]

You should try the follwing code:

l = legend(gca) ; % gets the legend object of the current axes
l.Visible = "off" ;

[Rufiya]

Hello,

I tried adding the above code to my script and unfortunately it did not result giving any legend output on my graph. If possible, could you suggest any other alternative way to resolve this issue?