Is is possible to rotate text using nodes near coords?

Question

I'm plotting a ybar, and nodes near coords is ugly. Is it possible to rotate the text above the bars by 90?

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[area legend,
legend pos=north west,
legend columns=4,
legend style={draw=none},
symbolic x coords={D,F,R,M,K,S,C},
major tick length=0cm,
xtick=data,
nodes near coords,
ybar,
bar width = 6pt,
]
\addplot[area legend] %[ybar,,fill=blue]  fill=color1
coordinates {(D,0.78) (F,0.23) (R,0.93) (M,0.73) (K,0.00) (S,0.37) (C,0.36)};
\addplot[area legend] %[ybar,,fill=blue]
coordinates {(D,0.52) (F,0.62) (R,0.60) (M,0.56) (K,0.64) (S,0.166) (C,0.170)};
\addplot[area legend] %[ybar,,fill=blue]
coordinates {(D,0.635) (F,0.437) (R,0.744) (M,0.345) (K,0.48) (S,0.652) (C,0.955)};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

Answer 1

The node text can be specified using the optional argument to nodes near coords. The standard content is \pgfmathprintnumber\pgfplotspointmeta, i.e. the meta value (usually the y value) is printed by the math output routine. You can rotate the labels by using the option nodes near coords=\rotatebox{90}{\pgfmathprintnumber\pgfplotspointmeta}, as Martin suggested.

The nodes near coords do not automatically enlarge the plot area to accommodate them, so you have to do something like enlarge y limits={upper,value=0.2} to adjust the top border of the plot area.

(Unrequested extra information: The option area legend has to be passed to the addplots, it is not an axis option. To do this for all plots, you have to use the axis option every axis plot post/.style={area legend})

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    symbolic x coords={D,F,R,M,K,S,C},
    major tick length=0cm,
    xtick=data,
    enlarge y limits={upper,value=0.2},
    nodes near coords=\rotatebox{90}{\pgfmathprintnumber\pgfplotspointmeta},
    ybar,
    bar width = 6pt,
]
\addplot
coordinates {(D,0.78) (F,0.23) (R,0.93) (M,0.73) (K,0.00) (S,0.37) (C,0.36)};
\addplot
coordinates {(D,0.52) (F,0.62) (R,0.60) (M,0.56) (K,0.64) (S,0.166) (C,0.170)};
\addplot
coordinates {(D,0.635) (F,0.437) (R,0.744) (M,0.345) (K,0.48) (S,0.652) (C,0.955)};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

(Extra extra information:) You can adjust the style that is used for the nodes near coords nodes using nodes near coords align={<options>}, although it is typically used with options such as horizontal, vertical or <anchor> to easily adjust the placement. If you pass the option rotate=90, the nodes do get rotated, but because PGFplots falls back to very simple node placement if it encounters arbitrary options in nodes near coords align, the nodes will be placed at the same horizontal position in the case of ybar plots.

Answer 2

You can use \rotatebox{<angle>}{Text} (from the already loaded graphicx) package to rotate text. More complicated stuff like verbatim text can be rotated using the {adjustbox}{angle=<angle>} environment provided by the adjustbox package. Simply use these macros inside the node, but TikZ might have own options for it.