Why am I getting "Error using bar (line 127) Input arguments must be numeric, datetime, duration or categorical"?

I am trying to create a stacked bar chart of revenue data by fiscal quarter using data from a table. The data I want to plot is in columns 2-6, while the quarter names (string) are in column 1.

Here is a cleaned version of the code:

clear
clc
close all
load table_data.mat
bar(quarterly_revenue(:,2:end),'stacked')
legend(quarterly_revenue.Properties.VariableNames(2:end))
title('Product Revenue Over Time')
x = 1:height(quarterly_revenue);
xticks(x)
xticklabels(quarterly_revenue(:,1))
ytickformat('usd')

When I run the code, I get an error:

Error using bar (line 127)

Input arguments must be numeric, datetime, duration or categorical.

Error in example_error_using_bar (line 5)

bar(quarterly_revenue(:,2:end),'stacked')

Answer 1

[Pat Canny]

You are using parentheses where you should be using curly braces. To access the content of the table, use curly braces.

Here's a quick demonstration. Type this in the Command Window after loading the table data:

quarterly_revenue(:,2:end)

This will return a table (look at the "ans" variable in the Workspace). The "bar" command doesn't recognize tables as a valid input.

Instead, try this:

quarterly_revenue{:,2:end}

This will return an array of doubles (numeric). The "bar" command knows what to do with these.

You are also using parentheses elsewhere in your code where a curly brace should be used. You must be in marketing!

Here's the correct implementation:

clear
clc
close all
load table_data.mat
bar(quarterly_revenue{:,2:end},'stacked')
legend(quarterly_revenue.Properties.VariableNames{2:end})
title('Product Revenue Over Time')
x = 1:height(quarterly_revenue);
xticks(x)
xticklabels(quarterly_revenue{:,1}) % Each bar has a label of the fiscal quarter's name
ytickformat('usd')

Enjoy that sweet, sweet bar chart!

[madhan ravi]

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/access-data-in-a-table.html