Fix Extra Space in Figure using xlabel

I am currently trying to prepare some figures for a final draft of my paper. I have generated some data and plotted a histogram using histfit. I then attempt to label the data using xlabel. I then set the size of the histogram to save it.

All well and good. However, when I save the figure using saveas, I have a big space between the m and the 2. As expected, Matlab is interpreting this as LaTeX code and it's appearing as a superscript. However, I'd like to get rid of the space between the m and the 2.

What's strange is that if I save as an eps, I have this problem, but if I save as a pdf I don't. Here's my minimal working example:

hSize=[6.5,2.5];
A=50*rand(200,1);
histfit(A,20,'gamma')
xlabel('Measured Area (m^2)')
ylabel('Frequency')
set(gcf,'Color',[1 1 1],'PaperUnits','inches','PaperSize',hSize,...
    'PaperPosition',[0 0 hSize]);
saveas(gcf, [mypath, '/example.eps'],'epsc') %replace mypath with your own path

[jamesdg]

I didn't upload an image of the figure since I can't upload eps files, but here's a screenshot of my figure so you have an idea of what I mean:

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

See if the FEX contribution export_fig can save it correctly for you. It’s gotten great reviews.

[daniel]

weird, I have never had this problem... try export_fig on file exchange, its great.

[jamesdg]

I took a look and tried it out -- a great package. Unfortunately it gives me the same problem.

[jamesdg]

Again, that's only for the .eps file; as with saveas, I have no problems if I save as .jpg or .png. PDF gives me the same problem as EPS.

[Star Strider]

The only other thing I can think of is to see if using the 'Interpreter','latex' option would help. You can find information on LaTeX here. Its syntax is slightly different from TeX.

Otherwise, experiment with variations, such as:

xlabel('Measured Area (m^{2})')

or

xlabel('Measured Area (m²)')

It doesn’t seem that it would make a difference, but it might.

[jamesdg]

Thanks, the following worked (though it changed the font -- not a problem for me, but heads up for anyone using this in the future):

xlabel('Measured Area ($m^{2}$)','Interpreter','latex')

[Star Strider]

My pleasure!

I’ve had LaTeX work when other options didn’t. You can also specify the font in xlabel, but I’m not sure if all fonts work and play well with LaTeX.