Why are the rightmost axes from two or more subplots not aligned when creating the subplots with y-axes on the right and left hand side?

When creating subplots with Y-axes on both left and right side (without using the PLOTYY function), the right hand side axes do not align. For example:

x1 = 1:100; y1 = x1*ones(length(x1)); 

x2 = 1:100; y2 = cos(pi*x2/6); 

subplot(2,2,1) 

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r');

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r');

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'),...

      'XAxisLocation','top',...

      'YAxisLocation','right',...

      'Color','none',...

      'XColor','k','YColor','k');

hold on;

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k');

subplot(2,2,2)

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r');

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r');

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'),...

      'XAxisLocation','top',...

      'YAxisLocation','right',...

      'Color','none',...

      'XColor','k','YColor','k');

hold on;

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k');

subplot(2,2,3)

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r');

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r');

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'),...

      'XAxisLocation','top',...

      'YAxisLocation','right',...

      'Color','none',...

      'XColor','k','YColor','k');

hold on;

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k');

subplot(2,2,4)

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r');

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r');

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'),...

      'XAxisLocation','top',...

      'YAxisLocation','right',...

      'Color','none',...

      'XColor','k','YColor','k');

hold on;

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k');

If you enlarge the figure you will note that the axes on the right hand side of each subplot. They should lie exactly one over another; in this case, they do not align.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This is expected behavior when adding a second axes on a subplot figure. The plot boxes can be lined up using the 'align' option in the SUBPLOT function. To do this, change

subplot(2,2,1)

to

subplot(2,2,1,'align')

For example,

x1 = 1:100; y1 = x1*ones(length(x1)); 

x2 = 1:100; y2 = cos(pi*x2/6); 

subplot(2,2,1,'align') 

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r'); 

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r'); 

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'), 'XAxisLocation','top',... 

      'YAxisLocation','right','Color','none', 'XColor','k','YColor','k'); 

hold on; 

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k'); 

subplot(2,2,2,'align') 

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r'); 

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r'); 

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'), 'XAxisLocation','top',... 

      'YAxisLocation','right','Color','none', 'XColor','k','YColor','k'); 

hold on; 

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k'); 

subplot(2,2,3,'align') 

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r'); 

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r'); 

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'), 'XAxisLocation','top',... 

      'YAxisLocation','right','Color','none', 'XColor','k','YColor','k'); 

hold on; 

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k'); 

subplot(2,2,4,'align') 

plot(x1,y1,'Color','r'); 

set(gca,'XColor','r','YColor','r'); 

axes('Position',get(gca,'Position'), 'XAxisLocation','top',... 

      'YAxisLocation','right','Color','none', 'XColor','k','YColor','k'); 

hold on; 

plot(x2,y2,'Color','k');