How can several boxplots be combined into a single figure as groups?

Question

Currently I have the following MWE:

\documentclass[a4paper]{standalone}

\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepgfplotslibrary{external,colormaps,groupplots,statistics}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.8}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows,shapes,positioning}



\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{groupplot}[
boxplot/draw direction=y,
ylabel={segmentation time (secs)},
xtick={1,2},
width=6cm,
height=8cm,
boxplot/box extend=0.5,
xticklabels={visualization disabled,visualization enabled},
    x tick label style={
        text width=2.5cm,
        align=center
    },
      group style={
        group size=2 by 2,
          horizontal sep=2cm,vertical sep=2cm
      },
]

\nextgroupplot[title=dataset 1]
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
60\\
516\\
710\\
503\\
1253\\
};
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
759\\
419\\
309\\
883\\
299\\
};

\nextgroupplot[title=dataset 2]
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
516\\
480\\
1356\\
200\\
736\\
};
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
684\\
340\\
700\\
325\\
377\\
};

\nextgroupplot[title=dataset 3]
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
956\\
320\\
811\\
330\\
381\\
};
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
280\\
749\\
392\\
870\\
488\\
};

\nextgroupplot[title=dataset 4]
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
658\\
579\\
891\\
545\\
558\\
};
\addplot+[boxplot]
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
514\\
630\\
416\\
559\\
462\\
};

\end{groupplot}
\end{tikzpicture}


\end{document}

Which nets me the following output (which is usable I guess):

Example

I would like to have them all in a single picture though. Kind of like the way you can group the boxes in box charts. So, to describe it more precisely:

X ticks are dataset 1 through 4
On every x tick are two box plots, one for disabled and one for enabled
For clarity each pair of boxplots should be visually grouped together (maybe shift them towards eachother?)

I have been searching through the PGFPlots manuals and web but haven't found anything that works so far. Can anyone help me out?

This question need new answers to achieve the effect. – Y. zeng Sep 22 '23 at 01:52 — Y. zeng, Sep 22 '23 at 01:52

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 08 '14 at 21:10

Box plots are always placed at the coordinate specified with boxplot/draw position. This, in turn, defaults to 1+\plotnumofactualtype, but it can be customized to other values.

In your case, you can simply place all your plots into one axis and assign an individual boxplot/draw position to each.

Here is an approach which defines a math expression which appears to be close to what you need (comments are in the code):

enter image description here

\documentclass[a4paper]{standalone}

\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepgfplotslibrary{statistics}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.8}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
boxplot/draw direction=y,
ylabel={segmentation time (secs)},
height=8cm,
boxplot={
    %
    % Idea: 
    %  place the 
    %  group 1 at 0.3333 and 0.6666
    %  group 2 at 1.3333 and 1.6666
    %  group 3 at 2.3333 and 2.6666
    %  ...
    % in a formular:
    draw position={1/3 + floor(\plotnumofactualtype/2) + 1/3*mod(\plotnumofactualtype,2)},
    %
    % that means the box extend must be at most 0.33333 :
    box extend=0.3,
},
% ... it also means that 1 unit in x controls the width:
x=2cm,
% ... and it means that we should describe intervals:
xtick={0,1,2,...,10},
x tick label as interval,
xticklabels={%
    {Data set 1\\{\tiny off/on}},%
    {Data set 2\\{\tiny off/on}},%
    {Data set 3\\{\tiny off/on}},%
    {Data set 4\\{\tiny off/on}},%
},
    x tick label style={
        text width=2.5cm,
        align=center
    },
]

\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
60\\
516\\
710\\
503\\
1253\\
};
\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
759\\
419\\
309\\
883\\
299\\
};

\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
516\\
480\\
1356\\
200\\
736\\
};
\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
684\\
340\\
700\\
325\\
377\\
};

\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
956\\
320\\
811\\
330\\
381\\
};
\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
280\\
749\\
392\\
870\\
488\\
};

\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
658\\
579\\
891\\
545\\
558\\
};
\addplot
table[row sep=\\,y index=0] {
data\\
514\\
630\\
416\\
559\\
462\\
};

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}


\end{document}

You may need to adopt the cycle list for suitable line styles.

Be aware of a bug with floor (and int) that may not count the box plots correctly: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/505881/7561 — adn, Aug 27 '19 at 11:40

How can several boxplots be combined into a single figure as groups?

1 Answers1

Linked