Distance between axis label and axis in MATLAB figure

Question

I'm plotting some data with MATLAB and I'd like to adjust the distance between axis label and the axis itself. However, simply adding a bit to the "Position" property of the label makes the label move out of the figure window. Is there a "margin" property or something similar?

In the above figure, I'd like to increase the distance between the numbers and the label "Time (s)" while automatically extending the figures size so that the label does not move out of bounds.

This is how I set up the figure / axis.

figure;
set(gca, ...
    'Box'         , 'off'                        , ...
    'LooseInset'  , get(gca, 'TightInset') * 1.5 , ...
    'TickDir'     , 'in'                         , ...
    'XMinorTick'  , 'off'                        , ...
    'YMinorTick'  , 'off'                        , ...
    'TickLength'  , [.02 .02]                    , ...
    'LineWidth'   , 1                            , ...
    'XGrid'       , 'off'                        , ...
    'YGrid'       , 'off'                        , ...
    'FontSize'    , 18                           );

Answer 1

I wrote a function that should do exactly what you want. It keeps the axes at the exact same size and position, it moves the x-label down and increases the figure size to be large enough to show the label:

function moveLabel(ax,offset,hFig,hAxes)
    % get figure position
    posFig = get(hFig,'Position');

    % get axes position in pixels
    set(hAxes,'Units','pixels')
    posAx = get(hAxes,'Position');

    % get label position in pixels
    if ax=='x'
        set(get(hAxes,'XLabel'),'Units','pixels')
        posLabel = get(get(hAxes,'XLabel'),'Position');
    else
        set(get(hAxes,'YLabel'),'Units','pixels')
        posLabel = get(get(hAxes,'YLabel'),'Position');
    end

    % resize figure
    if ax=='x'
        posFigNew = posFig + [0 -offset 0 offset];
    else
        posFigNew = posFig + [-offset 0 offset 0];
    end
    set(hFig,'Position',posFigNew)

    % move axes
    if ax=='x'
        set(hAxes,'Position',posAx+[0 offset 0 0])
    else
        set(hAxes,'Position',posAx+[offset 0 0 0])
    end

    % move label
    if ax=='x'
        set(get(hAxes,'XLabel'),'Position',posLabel+[0 -offset 0])
    else
        set(get(hAxes,'YLabel'),'Position',posLabel+[-offset 0 0])
    end

    % set units back to 'normalized' and 'data'
    set(hAxes,'Units','normalized')
    if ax=='x'
        set(get(hAxes,'XLabel'),'Units','data')
    else
        set(get(hAxes,'YLabel'),'Units','data')
    end
end

In this case offset should be the absolute offset in pixels. If you want relative offsets, I think this function could easily be rewritten. hFig is the figure handle and hAxes the axes handle.

EDIT: create the figure using hFig = figure; and the axes by hAxes = axes; (then set up the axes like you did in the question: set(hAxes,...)) before calling the function.

EDIT2: added the lines where the 'Units' of hAxes and the XLabel are changed back to 'normalized' and 'data' respectively. That way the figure stays the way you want it after resizing.

EDIT3: modified the function to work for both X and Y labels. Additional input ax should be 'x' or 'y'.

Answer 2

You can accomplish this by adjusting the position of the axis an xlabel. I also suggest using "normalized" units so your positioning does not depend on the data range. Here's an example:

figure
plot(rand(1,10))

set(gca, 'Units', 'Normalized');
pos = get(gca, 'Position');
offset = 0.1;
set(gca, ...
    'Box'         , 'off'                        , ...
    'LooseInset'  , get(gca, 'TightInset') * 1.5 , ...
    'TickDir'     , 'in'                         , ...
    'XMinorTick'  , 'off'                        , ...
    'YMinorTick'  , 'off'                        , ...
    'TickLength'  , [.02 .02]                    , ...
    'LineWidth'   , 1                            , ...
    'XGrid'       , 'off'                        , ...
    'YGrid'       , 'off'                        , ...
    'FontSize'    , 18                           , ...
    'Position'    , pos + [0, offset, 0, -offset]);

h = xlabel('Time (s)');
set(h, 'Units', 'Normalized');
pos = get(h, 'Position');
set(h, 'Position', pos + [0, -offset, 0]);

Answer 3

I know this has been answered and all, but this is (to some extent) a simpler way:

relative_offset = 1.5;
close all;
figure(99);clf
plot(rand(1,10))
xlabel('The x-axis')
xh = get(gca,'XLabel'); % Handle of the x label
pause(0.2)
set(xh, 'Units', 'Normalized')
pause(0.2)
pos = get(xh, 'Position');
set(xh, 'Position',pos.*[1,relative_offset,1])

I have included the pause commands, since my system will get ahead of itself in some weird way otherwise.

/Niels