Set x-axis limits using xlim AND autoscale y-axis

I would like to do something incredibly simple. On a plot I would like to be able to zoom in to a certain portion by setting the x-axis using xlim, and have the y-axis autoscale to the min/max values in the NEW AXES rather than the whole dataseries. This is currently what happens if I use xlim([x1 x2]) then e.g. axis 'auto y'. Using axis tight resets both x and y-limits to show the entire dataseries.

I should point out I am plotting a waveform object (structure), not just two vectors, so can't just plot the relevant part of the data by doing something like plot(x(index1:index2),y(index1:index2))

I feel like this should be pretty simple, but I can't work it out, other than manually setting the y-axis limits. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

[Jan]

I do not understand the question. What do you want to achieve for the y-limits?

Answer 1

[John]

I understand the problem. After calling:

axis tight

both axis are reset. If you wanted to set your xlim and then rescale your y-axis automatically, the previous command will not work. Also, if you try to set the ylim parameters to inf and -inf, which normally autoscales, you get the same result

ylim([-inf, inf])

The limits are set based on the entirety of the data set, not just what's viewable in your new xlim window.

THE SOLUTION : After setting xlim([xmin,xmax]), you can autoscale the y-axis by:

axis 'auto y'

Finally, if you simply limit the range of data in your original plot command, you will not have this problem.

[chlor thanks]

Awesome solution for my problem. Thank you!

Answer 2

[Matt Fig]

Calling:

axis tight

Does reset the axes limits to the range of the data, as documented. So why is it that you are calling this after you set the axes limits to the disired range? I.e., what are you trying to accomplish by calling the AXIS function, if you already have the desired range?