Error bars with categorical data type

I am trying to plot error bars in y for data that are categorial type in x. I get an error message saying

Error argument 'err' must be empty when the data are categorical.

How can I plot the error bars in y? I feel like the type in x shouldn't matter.

I am attempting this by

scatter(x,y)
errorbar(x,y,err_in_y);

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

Let's say that your categorical x data contains values apple, banana, and cherry. When the error bars are plotted with errorbar, the caps of the bars do have some width. So how wide should the cap of the error bar for banana be? Halfway between apple and banana to halfway between banana and cherry? How should that be specified?

I suspect that cap width issue is the reason why the err input argument is not supported for categorical data.

[L'O.G.]

Thanks @Steven Lord to keep with the analogy, if they are different types of apples and you're plotting a quantity to compare between them, then how do you plot the error in that case? Would using something other than categorical be recommended?