how do I copy existing subplots and aggregate them into larger subplots

I have existing 2x1 grid subplots and would like to pair 2x1 subplots 2 of these plots side-by-side so it becomes a single 2x2 subplot. How can I do this and carry over each respective axes labels, titles, and legends to the new plot?

[Geoff Hayes]

Chris - can you provide a sample of the code that produces the 2x1 subplots? Also, can you provide an image of what the result is now versus what you would like to achieve?

Answer 1

[Kelly Kearney]

If you don't have the code to reproduce the original figures (or if you simply prefer not to), you can use copyobj to copy the axes from one axis to another, and then simply change the position of those axes to match your desired subplot arrangement. In this example, I use a set of subplot axes ( h3.ax) as a template for the new positions of the copied axes ( h3.ax2).

% Your original figures

h1.fig = figure;
h1.ax(1) = subplot(2,1,1);
plot(rand(100,2), 'x');
h1.ax(2) = subplot(2,1,2);
plot(rand(100,2), 'o');

h2.fig = figure;
h2.ax(1) = subplot(2,1,1);
plot(rand(100,2), '+');
h2.ax(2) = subplot(2,1,2);
plot(rand(100,2), '.');

% The new one

h3.fig = figure;
h3.ax = gobjects(2);
for ii = 1:4
    h3.ax(ii) = subplot(2,2,ii);
end
h3.ax = h3.ax';
h3.ax2 = gobjects(size(h3.ax));

h3.ax2(1,1) = copyobj(h1.ax(1), h3.fig);
h3.ax2(2,1) = copyobj(h1.ax(2), h3.fig);
h3.ax2(1,2) = copyobj(h2.ax(1), h3.fig);
h3.ax2(2,2) = copyobj(h2.ax(2), h3.fig);
for ii = 1:4
    h3.ax2(ii).Position = h3.ax(ii).Position;
end
delete(h3.ax);

[Chang hsiung]

great, thanks a lot.

Answer 2

[Benjamin]

One way is to use getframe() and then plot the 2 frames as images side-by-side. Of course you will not be able to further edit them as figures.

Answer 3

[Thorsten]

You can initialise

spno = 1; % current subplot number

and then replace your 4 subplot commands with

subplot(2,2, spno), spno = spno + 1;

Answer 4

[Chris Chow]

Hi thanks.

Could you be a bit more specific from loading in a .fig file that was already organized as a 2x1 subplot to the shuffling for each subplot into a new 2x2 subplot? Thanks in advance

[Benjamin]

Chris, this should be a comment on someone's answer. It is not itself an answer.

[Thorsten]

Do you have the matlab code to produce the 2x1 subplots? Then you can use my approach.