Reproduce a legend in multiple figures

I have several figures. In figure 1 I specify a legend and format it nicely. It goes something like this:

figure(1)
plot(x,y1,x,y2,x,y3)
hleg = legend('string 1','string 2','string 3','orientation', 'horizontal', 'location','north'))

I would like to place the exact same legend in figure 2, regardless of what I'm plotting in figure 2. The following does not work:

figure(2)
plot(x,y4,x,y5)
legend(hleg)

How can I get my legend from figure 1 into figure 2?

Answer 1

[Rick Rosson]

You can create a function that takes an axes handle as an input argument, creates the legend as desired, and then returns the handle to the legend.

The function signature would be:

   function Lgd = createLegend(ax)
       Lgd = legend(ax, ... );
   end

HTH.

Answer 2

[Nahashon O]

You can create a cell array with the legend names, then pass the array whenever you call legend in your plots. i.e:

legend_names = { 'legend1', 'legend2'};

figure;

subplot(2,2,1)

plot(x1, y1);

hold on

plot(x1_1, y1_1)

legend(legend_names)

subplot(2,2,2)

plot(x2, y2);

hold on

plot(x2_1, y2_1)

legend(legend_names)

subplot(2,2,3)

plot(x3, y3);

hold on

plot(x3_1, y3_1)

legend(legend_names)

subplot(2,2,4)

plot(x4, y4);

hold on

plot(x4_1, y4_1)

legend(legend_names)