R2014b Histogram of multiple data sets

I'm trying to show histograms of four different vectors on a single set of axes and can't make it print them adjacent to one another, staggered, stacked, or anything other than right on top of each other.

code:

data1 = randn(20,1);
data2 = randn(30,1);
data3 = randn(40,1);
data4 = randn(50,1);
edges = -4:1:4;

histogram(data1,edges); hold on;
histogram(data2);
histogram(data3);
histogram(data4);  
%Technically, I did these all with 'Normalization', 'probability' too to equalize height

Even with transparency it's impossible to tell what it shows. I tried grouping the four vectors into one array (with gap from different length vectors filled by NaN), but then the histogram function groups all the data together into a single chart. I'd like to show it so that for each bin (like 0-1), there are four bars in different colors side-by-side, ideally with a gap before the next block of four so it's clear which ones go together. Thanks.

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

One way is to use the histcounts command to get the counts, and then use the bar command to do the plotting (because it will do the side-by-side):

    rng 'default'

    data1 = randn(20,1);
    data2 = randn(30,1);
    data3 = randn(40,1);
    data4 = randn(50,1);
    edges = -4:1:4;

    h1 = histcounts(data1,edges);
    h2 = histcounts(data2,edges);
    h3 = histcounts(data3,edges);
    h4 = histcounts(data4,edges);

    figure
    bar(edges(1:end-1),[h1; h2; h3; h4]')

I did not take great care to properly line up the "edges" variable with the counts. There are some nuances with respect to exactly how the binning is done. I suggest reading the documentation for histcounts.