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Is there an option in pgfplots at the axis level or a setting of legend style option, that would effectively ignore the subsequent legend entries in the plot?

\documentclass{article} \usepackage{pgfplots} 
\begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}[legend style = {at={(1.03,-0.03)}},
        %ignore legend %hypothetical option
    ]
    \addlegendentry{graph 1} %ignored
    \addplot+[mark=none,fill=yellow,draw=none,forget plot] {0.1*x^2};
    \addlegendentry{graph 2} %ignored
    \addplot[mark=none,draw=red,line legend] {0.1*x^2};
    \addlegendentry{graph 3} %ignored
    \addplot[mark=none,draw=blue,line legend] {0.0*x^2};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture} \end{document}

I have a large plot (many curves) and I want to remove all the legends at the same time, without modifying the code too much.

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7
  • As a quick hack you can skip all the \addlegendentry commands by assigning it to \relax. So put every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax} to the hypothetical line and it will locally cancel all the legend entries.
    – percusse
    Oct 20, 2012 at 21:06
  • @percusse, yes, I was looking for a hack like this. However when I add your option, the whole text for legends appears in text mode before a plot with no legends.
    – alfC
    Oct 20, 2012 at 21:26
  • Strange I don't see anything. I'm using v1.6.
    – percusse
    Oct 20, 2012 at 21:34
  • @percusse: Your suggestion seems to work just fine for me as well. I am not able to reproduce the problem that alfC experiences with your approach.
    – Peter Grill
    Oct 20, 2012 at 21:37
  • @PeterGrill Maybe it's a better idea to gobble the argument too to avoid those cases (though I can't replicate it) but I'll wait in case Christian chips in.
    – percusse
    Oct 21, 2012 at 4:12

2 Answers 2

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10

Here is what can be done for your problem.

Option 1

As suggested by percusse every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax} can be used to suppress legends. Following code shows their use both locally and globally.

Code:

\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage{pgfplots}
%\pgfplotsset{every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax}} %%%if you don't want them globally, uncomment this line

\begin{document} 
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}[legend style = {at={(1.03,-0.03)}},
     every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax}   %ignore legend locally 
    ]
    \addlegendentry{graph 1} %ignored
    \addplot+[mark=none,fill=yellow,draw=none,forget plot] {0.1*x^2};
    \addlegendentry{graph 2} %ignored
    \addplot[mark=none,draw=red,line legend] {0.1*x^2};
    \addlegendentry{graph 3} %ignored
    \addplot[mark=none,draw=blue,line legend] {0.0*x^2};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture} 
\end{document}

enter image description here

Option 2

As suggested by Qrrbrbirlbel, you can define a new style by 

\pgfplotsset{ignore legend/.style={every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax}}}

in the preamble and now you can use your hypothetical ignore legend as you wished.

Code:

\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{ignore legend/.style={every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax}}}
\begin{document} 
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}[legend style = {at={(1.03,-0.03)}},
        ignore legend %hypothetical option! NOT ANYMORE
    ]
    \addlegendentry{graph 1} %ignored
    \addplot+[mark=none,fill=yellow,draw=none,forget plot] {0.1*x^2};
    \addlegendentry{graph 2} %ignored
    \addplot[mark=none,draw=red,line legend] {0.1*x^2};
    \addlegendentry{graph 3} %ignored
    \addplot[mark=none,draw=blue,line legend] {0.0*x^2};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture} 
\end{document}

As Christian Feuersänger writes in his comment,

It is save to overwrite this macro to no-operation. However, your solution does not really overwrite it to no-operation, because it results in \relax{graph 1} - and {graph 1} is still processed by TeX. In your case, the characters are silently ignored... but if you write complicated things in the argument, it might fail.

and his suggestion is to use 

\pgfplotsset{ignore legend/.style={every axis legend/.code={\renewcommand\addlegendentry[2][]{}}}}

instead of 

\pgfplotsset{ignore legend/.style={every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax}}}

since \renewcommand takes care of both the mandatory and the optional argument of \addlegendentry.

Option 3

If you are freshly writing the code, then simply omit the command \addlegendentry{graph 3} etc.

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6
  • I'd go the whole nine yards and use \pgfplotsset{ignore legend/.style={every axis legend/.code={\let\addlegendentry\relax}}} in the preamble so that the OP can use their “hypothetical” option ignore legend.
    – Qrrbrbirlbel
    Oct 20, 2012 at 23:53
  • Note that this is a very questionable hack and might be breaking stuff :). I'd rather wait for Christian to approve since he knows it inside out.
    – percusse
    Oct 21, 2012 at 0:34
  • @HarishKumar It is save to overwrite this macro to no-operation. However, your solution does not really overwrite it to no-operation, because it results in \relax{graph 1} - and {graph 1} is still processed by TeX. In your case, the characters are silently ignored... but if you write complicated things in the argument, it might fail.
    – Christian Feuersänger
    Oct 25, 2012 at 8:55
  • 1
    @HarishKumar In your case, it would work if you write \renewcommand\addlegendentry[2][]{} instead of \let...\relax because \renewcommand takes care of both the mandatory and the optional argument of \addlegendentry
    – Christian Feuersänger
    Oct 25, 2012 at 14:30
  • As pointed out by @ChristianFeuersänger, the \relax can lead to unintentional stuff. I had probelms, just by having math symbols in my legend (which I consider pretty standard and nothing exotic), e.g., $\gamma=0.5$. The \renewcommand option is definitely the better one. I think you should remove the \relax solution entirely.
    – Clausen
    Jun 14, 2014 at 0:09
5

What about typing \legend{} before \end{axis}?

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2
  • Welcome to TeX.SX! Is this a follow-up question for clearification?
    – user31729
    Feb 13, 2015 at 14:46
  • That works well. You should expand this to be a complete answer, including a full minimal document demonstrating that it works.
    – Andrew Swann
    Feb 13, 2015 at 14:47

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