gname for labelling lines in a plot

I want to use gname() to identify the lines of a plot with multiple lines.

I am trying to do it like this:

timeseries = rand(100,3); plot(timeseries); gname({'a','b','c'});

which doesn't work.

If I invert the matrix I can use gname() for labelling, however the plot is obscured:

timeseries = rand(100,3); plot(timeseries'); gname({'a','b','c'})

Would be nice if that could work somehow, I would like to plot hundreds of timeseries in one plot, but the colour labelling doesnt really help to identify them.

Answer 1

[Kelly Kearney]

Maybe setting the ButtonDownFcn of each line to display the name somewhere would work? In this example, I change the axis title:

hax = axes;

changetext = @(str) title(hax, str);
hln = plot(1:3, rand(3,100));
for ii = 1:100
    hln(ii).ButtonDownFcn = @(~,~) changetext(num2str(ii));
end

[Felix]

I would be also glad to set the ButtonDownFcn! However, When I try your code I get an Error:

Structure assignment to non-structure object.

I am running Matlab2014a on Mac os 10.10

[Kelly Kearney]

For that version, replace

hln(ii).ButtonDownFcn = @(~,~) changetext(num2str(ii));

with

set(hln(ii), 'ButtonDownFcn', @(~,~) changetext(num2str(ii)));

[Felix]

Thank you! It works. For some reason the Axes have a second label from 0.0 to 1.0 overaying the original label.

I also tested your solution on Windows with Matlab 2014b. And there it works perfectly

Answer 2

[Thorsten]

legend({'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'})

[Felix]

I would like to have an "interactive" solution where I can click on the lines to identify them. When I have 100s of timeseries one plot the Legend becomes useless. Thanks for your comment though