In Matlab how can I exchange the horizontal and vertical axes of an existing plot

Question

Suppose I have vectors x and y, I know I can do plot(x,y) or plot(y,x) to achieve what I want. However, my question is specifically: If I have a plot already created in a figure as plot(x,y), how can I programmatically exchange the horizontal and vertical axes so that effectively I am saying plot(y,x)?

Solution

Interesting question +1. The following example shows how to exchange the x and y axes of the current figure:

X = (1:100)'; %# Create x axis data
Y = randn(100, 1); %# Create y axis data
plot(X, Y); %# Plot the data
view(-90, 90) %# Swap the axes
set(gca, 'ydir', 'reverse'); %# Reverse the y-axis (Optional step)

Also, a relevant link to Matlab Central is here.

Comments

[noufal]

can you please share where does it practically needs to do? it seems to be quiet interesting though you have both the vectors ready in your hand...

[Dan]

Are you saying that you no longer have x and y in memory?

[Isopycnal Oscillation]

@noufal I am using a GUI of which I have limited control (I am not allowed to fundamentally alter its structure although I can add on to it). The GUI spits out the plot with the axes arranged in a particular way of which I need the opposite. Since I have limited control over the GUI itself this is the only option...

[Isopycnal Oscillation]

@dan Yes, I do have them in memory.

[Dan]

If they are in memory then why not just go plot(y,x)?

[noufal]

@IsopycnalOscillation fine... I didn't think about such a case. . .