plotSetXTicInterval¶
Purpose¶
Controls the interval between X-axis tick labels and also allows the user to specify the first tick to be labeled for 2-D graphs.
Format¶
-
plotSetXTicInterval
(&myPlot, ticInterval[, firstLabeled])¶ Parameters: - &myPlot (struct pointer) – A
plotControl
structure pointer. - ticInterval (scalar) – the distance between X-axis tick labels.
- firstLabeled (scalar) – Optional input, the value of the first X value on which to place a tick label.
- &myPlot (struct pointer) – A
Examples¶
XY plot¶
// Create the sequence 0.25, 0.5, 0.75...3
x = seqa(0.25, 0.25, 12);
y = sin(x);
// Declare plotControl structure
// and fill with default settings for XY plots
struct plotControl myPlot;
myPlot = plotGetDefaults("xy");
// Place the first X-tick label at 0.5
// and place additional ticks every 0.25 after
plotSetXTicInterval(&myPlot, 0.25, 0.5);
// Draw plot with applied X-tick settings
plotXY(myPlot, x, y);
Scalar starting date¶

// Declare and initialize plotControl structure
struct plotControl myPlot;
myPlot = plotGetDefaults("xy");
// Place one tick label every 4 x-values
ticInterval = 4;
plotSetXTicInterval(&myPlot, ticInterval);
// Start the time series in April of 2008
dtstart = 200804;
// Specify quarterly data
frequency = 4;
// Create the multiplicative sequence 1, 2, 4, 8...
y = seqm(1, 2, 10);
// Create a time series plot of the data.
plotTS(myPlot, dtstart, frequency, y);
If you would like to change the tick labels so that they start on the first full year, 2009, continuing with the example from above, execute the following lines:
// Set the optional 'firstLabeled' parameter
plotSetXTicInterval(&myPlot, ticInterval, 2009);
plotTS(myPlot, dtstart, frequency, y);
This new plot should now have tick labels only on the first quarters of each year:

Daily data with full time vector¶
// Fully pathed file name
fname = getGAUSSHome() $+ "examples/xle_daily.xlsx";
// Load all observations from variables,
// 'Date' and 'Adj Close'
data = loadd(fname, "Date + Adj Close");
// Separate the 'date' vector and 'adjusted close'
// into different vectors
date_vec = data[., 1];
closing_price = data[., 2];
// Declare 'myPlot' to be a plotControl structure
// and fill with default settings for XY plots
struct plotControl myPlot;
myPlot = plotGetDefaults("xy");
// Draw the first X-tick label at July 2017
// Draw a new X-tick label every 3 label_units,
// which is 'months' in this case
plotSetXTicInterval(&myPlot, 3, 201707);
label_unit = "months";
// Create a time series plot of the data.
plotTS(myPlot, date_vec, label_unit, closing_price);

Let’s keep the tick labels on the same locations, however, create 1 tick label every quarter, instead of every 3 months. The following code will accomplish this.
// Draw the first X-tick label at July 2017
// Draw a new X-tick label every 1 label_unit,
// which is 'quarters' in this case
plotSetXTicInterval(&myPlot, 1, 201707);
label_unit = "quarters";
// Create a time series plot of the data.
plotTS(myPlot, date_vec, label_unit, closing_price);

Remarks¶
plotSetXTicInterval()
is supported for use with XY, Scatter, Contour and
time series plots. It is ignored by other plot types.
This function sets an attribute in a plotControl
structure. It does not
affect an existing graph, or a new graph drawn using the default
settings that are accessible from the
menu. See the GAUSS Graphics chapter for more information on the
methods available for customizing your graphs.
See also
Functions dttostr()
, strtodt()
, plotSetXLabel()
, plotSetXTicLabel()
, plotSetTicLabelFont()