# Filled curved in legend entry - tikz/pgf

I am trying to make a simple plot in pgfplots that consists of a curve with a filled area below it and vertical dashed lines that divide the area below the curve in sections. A simple output can be produced with the following code

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz, pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.13}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[domain=0:5,
xmin=0, xmax=5,
ymin=0, ymax=1,
axis on top,
samples=100,
xlabel={time (sec)},
ylabel={$dP/dt$},
axis line style={line width=1pt}]
\addplot+[mark=none, solid, ultra thick, color=black, fill = black, fill opacity=0.2] {exp(-x)}\closedcycle;\addlegendentry{$R=1Hz$};
\addplot[no markers, color=black, domain=0:1, samples=100, dashed, thick, area legend] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;\addlegendentry{Relative probability}
\addplot[color=black, domain=1:2, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[color=black, domain=2:3, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[color=black, domain=3:4, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[color=black, domain=4:5, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(0.55,0.61) (0.55,0.85)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(1.55,0.23) (1.55,0.47)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(2.55,0.092) (2.55,0.332)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(3.55,0.040) (3.55,0.28)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(4.55,0.021) (4.55,0.261)};
\pgfplotsset{
after end axis/.code={
\node[above] at (axis cs:0.55,0.85){\small{$63\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:1.55,0.47){\small{$23\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:2.55,0.332){\small{$8.6\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:3.55,0.28){\small{$3.1\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:4.55,0.261){\small{$1.2\%$}};
}
}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}


What I am trying to do is to modify the legend in a way that the dashed square will be filled in with gray, i.e. the fill colour of the curve.

I thought that using no markers and area legend inside the \addplot[] command arguments would do the trick but I wasn't lucky!

Any idea on how to fill the dashed square in the legend?

• I was going to add an answer, but Phelype beat me to it, so I'll mention this here: That last \pgfplotsset{ after end axis... thing seems unnecessarily complicated, why don't you just append the nodes at the end of the plots that draw the arrows, e.g. \addplot[black, <-] coordinates {(0.55,0.61) (0.55,0.85)} node[above,font=\small] {$63\%$};. Note also that \small is not a macro that takes an argument, it's a switch that influences the following text, so should be used as {\small text}, not \small{text}. – Torbjørn T. Mar 5 '18 at 11:27
• @TorbjørnT. : Thank you very much for your comment and suggestions. Since I think your suggestions are valid and important, could you provide an answer so as to be kept as a future reference? – Thanos Mar 5 '18 at 11:30

(As requested in a comment.)

I had the same idea as Phelype, \addlegendimage, for solving what you actually asked about.

The code below has some other simplifications as well. Instead of five plots with \closedcycle to generate the vertical dashed lines, I use a single \addplot [ycomb, ..] to do so. This works in this case, but might not look good in other cases.

Further, the use of \pgfplotsset{after end axis... to add the nodes is unnecessarily complicated. First of all, you don't need the \pgfplotsset at all, just add \node[above] at (axis cs:0.55,0.85){\small{$63\%$}}; directly in the axis environment.

But note that a node can be appended to the end of an \addplot coordinates {...}, so doing

\addplot[black, <-] coordinates {(0.55,0.61) (0.55,0.85)}
node[above,font=\small] {$63\%$};


instead seems more convenient. Note also that \small is not a macro that takes an argument, it's a switch that influences the following text in the same group, so should be used as {\small text}, not \small{text}.

\documentclass{article}

\pgfplotsset{compat=1.13}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[domain=0:5,
xmin=0, xmax=5,
ymin=0, ymax=1,
axis on top,
samples=100,
xlabel={time (sec)},
ylabel={$dP/dt$},
axis line style={line width=1pt}
]

% not saying this is better or worse, but you can make do with fewer settings
\addplot [ultra thick, black, fill, fill opacity=0.2] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addlegendentry{$R=1Hz$};

\addlegendimage{area legend,dashed, thick,fill = black, fill opacity=0.2}

% use ycomb to draw the vertical dashed lines
\addplot[black, dashed, thick, ycomb, samples at={0,...,5}] {exp(-x)};

node[above,font=\small] {$63\%$};
node[above,font=\small] {$23\%$};
node[above,font=\small] {$8.6\%$};
node[above,font=\small] {$3.1\%$};
node[above,font=\small] {$1.2\%$};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


You can do the arrows more automated if you want to, with a loop. One of the possible approaches is demonstrated in the code below, which results in this:

\documentclass{article}

\pgfplotsset{compat=1.13}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[domain=0:5,
xmin=0, xmax=5,
ymin=0, ymax=1,
axis on top,
samples=100,
xlabel={time (sec)},
ylabel={$dP/dt$},
axis line style={line width=1pt}
]

% not saying this is better or worse, but you can make do with fewer settings
\addplot [ultra thick, black, fill, fill opacity=0.2] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addlegendentry{$R=1Hz$};

\addlegendimage{area legend,dashed, thick,fill = black, fill opacity=0.2}

% use ycomb to draw the vertical dashed lines
\addplot[black, dashed, thick, ycomb, samples at={0,...,5}] {exp(-x)};

\pgfplotsinvokeforeach{0.5,1.5,2.5,3.5,4.5}{ % insert the x-values where you want arrows
\addplot [<-, shorten <=2pt] coordinates {(#1,{exp(-#1)})(#1,{exp(-#1) + 0.24})}
node[above,font=\small] {%
\pgfmathparse{exp(-#1)*100}%
$\pgfmathprintnumber[precision=1]{\pgfmathresult}\%$};
}

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

• However they are all very nice works. I have voted everybody +1. – Sebastiano Mar 9 '18 at 11:58

One possibility is to define a custom \addlegendimage:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz, pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.13}

\pgfplotsset{
legend image with text/.style={
legend image code/.code={%
\draw [#1,yshift=-0.5ex] (0,0) rectangle (4ex,1.5ex);
}
},
}

\begin{document}
\pagenumbering{gobble}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[domain=0:5,
xmin=0, xmax=5,
ymin=0, ymax=1,
axis on top,
samples=100,
xlabel={time (sec)},
ylabel={$dP/dt$},
axis line style={line width=1pt}]
%axis lines=left]
\addplot+[mark=none, solid, ultra thick, color=black, fill = black, fill opacity=0.2] {exp(-x)}\closedcycle;\addlegendentry{$R=1Hz$};
\addplot[color=black, domain=1:2, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[color=black, domain=2:3, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[color=black, domain=3:4, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[color=black, domain=4:5, samples=100, dashed, thick] {exp(-x)} \closedcycle;
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(0.55,0.61) (0.55,0.85)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(1.55,0.23) (1.55,0.47)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(2.55,0.092) (2.55,0.332)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(3.55,0.040) (3.55,0.28)};
\addplot[mark=none, black, <-] coordinates {(4.55,0.021) (4.55,0.261)};
\pgfplotsset{
after end axis/.code={
\node[above] at (axis cs:0.55,0.85){\small{$63\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:1.55,0.47){\small{$23\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:2.55,0.332){\small{$8.6\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:3.55,0.28){\small{$3.1\%$}};
\node[above] at (axis cs:4.55,0.261){\small{$1.2\%$}};
}
}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}