Prevent aggressive auto-scaling in Matlab

Question

Say I have the following Matlab code: ``` figure; a=plot(1:10); %A pause(); set(a,'ydata',1:2:20); %B pause(); set(a,'ydata',1:10); %C ``` At (A) the vertical range of my plot is [1,10]. At (B) the vertical range of my plot is [0,20]. At (C), the vertical range is once again [1,10]. I like that the plot auto-scales from step (A) to (B). I don't like the auto-scaling from (B) to (C) - it makes things jump around too much. Is there a way to have set the plot's scale to expand but never shrink? In my mind, this looks like: ``` set(gca,'XLimMode','auto_maxever'); ```

Accepted Answer

To my knowledge, Matlab does not have a function such as you describe, however...

You can set exactly the limits of `X` and `Y` by doing the following command:

```
set(gca,'XLim',[x1 x2], 'YLim',[y1 y2]);
```

A quick alias for the very same command is:

```
axis([xmin xmax ymin ymax]);
```

You might as well "freeze" the limits at any moment you like, by changing the `XLimMode` and `YLimMode` from `Auto` to `Manual`:

```
figure();
a=plot(1:10); %A
pause();
set(a,'ydata',1:2:20); %B
pause();
set(gca,'XLimMode','manual');
set(gca,'YLimMode','manual');
set(a,'ydata',1:10); %C
```

Or you can use yet another alias, which does exactly the same:

```
axis('manual');
```

If data is being continuously acquired, consider saving the axis limits before each update and then performing manual scaling.

Prevent aggressive auto-scaling in Matlab

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