How to remove 'year' in the x-axis

Hi, I used the following command to make a plot. I don't wan to show the "year", but I got this plot. The x format is "datetime".

plot(x,y,'DateTimeTickFormat','MM/dd HH:mm')

Unrecognized function or variable 'x'.

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

The accepted answer to this question gives the following method:

XDates = [datetime(2021,6,1:30) datetime(2021,7,1:31)];
YNumsForXDates = sin(0:0.1:6);

% Figure with year
figure
plot(XDates,YNumsForXDates)

% Figure without year
figure
plot(XDates,YNumsForXDates)
ax = gca;
ax.XTickLabel = ax.XTickLabel;

I have to admit that I don't fully under the mechanism of how this works. I wouldn't have expected the line

ax.XTickLabel = ax.XTickLabel;

to do anything at all! I believe it has something to do with the fact that it changes the XTickLabelMode to 'manual'.

[Zhiyun]

This is amazing! I tried it and yes it works. Thank you.

[Benjamin Kraus]

The year is being displayed in what my team calls the "secondary label". The string displayed in the secondary label is calculated as part of the automatic tick label generation. At the moment, there is no way to directly modify (or hide) the secondary label, but stay tuned. We have heard your requests, and are looking into options to allow for customization of the secondary label.

As for why your code hides the year. As @the cyclist guessed, this line:

ax.XTickLabel = ax.XTickLabel;

Is (for the most part) equivalent to:

ax.XTickLabelMode = 'manual';

Once you have set the tick labels (which toggles the mode to 'manual'), the ruler is no longer in control over what is displayed in the tick labels, and therefore has no way to know what should and should not be displayed in the secondary label, so it hides it.

[Vicki]

What version of matlab did you get this to work for? I'm trying to remove the year below the x-axis for a datetime plot in matlab R2020a, and this unfortunately hasn't worked :(

[the cyclist]

At the time that I originally answered the question, it was run in R2022b. I can't vouch for any release earlier than that.

Answer 2

[Abby Skofield]

Starting in MATLAB R2023b, you can add, remove, or update the secondary labels using the new functions xsecondarylabel, ysecondarylabel, zsecondarylabel.

t=datetime(2019,1,1,0,0:15:365*24*60-15,0);
plot(t,cumsum(randn(size(t))))
title('2019')
xsecondarylabel(Visible='off')

[Zhiyun]

Great! Thank you!