# pgfplots: reduce tick density

I am using `matlab2tikz` to produce plots in latex. The default tick settings produce very dense ticks, making the axes look ugly. I know that I can use something like

``````/pgfplots/xtick={0, 1, ... 3}
``````

to manually set the tick positions. However, I am constantly modifying the plot data, and it is annoying to have to go in and change the tick positions manually each time. This is especially annoying when I have subplots where each plot uses a different range, so I can't use the `matlab2tikz` `extraAxisOptions` parameter to change the ticks in MATLAB, since this would apply the same ticks to each subplot.

Here is an example (sorry, I don't know TikZ well enough to make this more minimal):

http://pastebin.com/B2GKyRNb

When I compile this, the y axis has five ticks, and the x axis has ticks every 0.2. I would like to reduce the density in such a way that it scales automatically with the range of the axis as well as the size of the plot (like MATLAB does).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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Welcome to TeX.sx! – Peter Jansson Jan 28 '13 at 20:22
Thanks, Peter. I'm glad I found this great resource :) – user25149 Jan 29 '13 at 22:36
I know that this here is not an answer, but it may help others visiting this knowledge base: `pgfplots` offers `xtick distance=1` as of version `1.13`. This is also an alternative to `xtick={0,1,...,3}`, although it is only useful in conjunction with a special plot. The answer of @Jake is more general and fits this use-case here. – Christian Feuersänger Jan 13 at 19:59

You can use `\pgfplotsset{try min ticks=3}` in your TeX document to allow PGFPlots to use only three ticks for an axis (the default is 4), and `max space between ticks=50pt` to allow more space between the tick marks (the default is 35):
According to the pgfplots documentation, you have to leave out the `pt`, i.e., `max space between ticks=50`. – Elmar Peise Jan 19 at 16:56