How to put error bars on top of grouped bars

I am trying to use the data to make up a figure in which the error bars should be placed on top of each bar. I tried a lot but the error bars are coming on top of each other. Here is my code and the image I am getting from it. Any help would be appreciated. And its little urgent. Thanks in advance.

y1 = [2.194	2.145	2.126	2.115
      2.01	2.098	2.136	2.136
      2.1	2.105	2.111	2.115
      2.155	2.133	2.187	2.192];
err1=[0.002	0.004	0.011	0.005
      0.019	0.006	0.003	0.008
      0.008	0.007	0.011	0.007
      0.013	0.016	0.013	0.019];
bar(y1,1)
ylim ([1.8 2.4])
hold on
errorbar(y1,err1,'r.');
title('Hardened density')
grid on 
grid minor
legend ('CON','MK20','nS1','nC1','location','NW')
xlabel('Mortar Type') % x-axis label
ylabel('Density (g/m^3)') % y-axis label
set(gca,'XTickLabel',{'NF','SFI','SFII','SC-M'});

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

A few tweaks of your code Assuming R2014b or later):

y1 = [2.194  2.145  2.126  2.115
2.01  2.098  2.136  2.136
2.1  2.105  2.111  2.115
2.155  2.133  2.187  2.192];
err1=[0.002  0.004  0.011  0.005
  0.019  0.006  0.003  0.008
  0.008  0.007  0.011  0.007
  0.013  0.016  0.013  0.019];
hBar = bar(y1,1);                                                   % Return ‘bar’ Handle
for k1 = 1:size(y1,1)
    ctr(k1,:) = bsxfun(@plus, hBar(1).XData, hBar(k1).XOffset');    % Note: ‘XOffset’ Is An Undocumented Feature; This Selects The ‘bar’ Centres
    ydt(k1,:) = hBar(k1).YData;                                     % Individual Bar Heights
end
hold on
errorbar(ctr, ydt, err1, '.r')                                      % Plot Error Bars
hold off
ylim ([1.8 2.4])
title('Hardened density')
grid on 
grid minor
legend ('CON','MK20','nS1','nC1','location','NW')
xlabel('Mortar Type') % x-axis label
ylabel('Density (g/m^3)') % y-axis label
set(gca,'XTickLabel',{'NF','SFI','SFII','SC-M'})

produces:

[dpb]

I still cannot fathom why TMW can't (more realistically, won't) make things like this part of the interface...I know I first complained at least 25 if not 30 year ago and they've since made it more, not less, difficult by hiding the needed property and breaking the former workaround. :(

[Amardeep Singh]

Thanks for your great help, i thought i sent a shoutout but i jsut realized i didn't, so thanks once again for all your help.

[Star Strider]

As always, my pleasure!

[Krishnashish Bose]

Thanks for the code, but it doesn't work unless y1 & err1 are square matrices.

[Star Strider]

The matrices only have to be the same size.

Change the initial line in the loop to:

for k1 = 1:size(y1,2)

for it to work correctly.

See for example: Adding standard error bars to grouped bar graph

Answer 2

[dpb]

See my previous at Answer_302325

To make more clear by placing all in one spot...to do the bars and errorbars all that is needed is--

hBar = bar(y1,1);   
xBar=cell2mat(get(hBar,'XData')).' + [hBar.XOffset];  % compute bar centers
hold on
hEB=errorbar(xBar,y1,err1,'k.');

The remainder to dress up the plot, etc., etc., ... is the same.

NB1: As the reference Answer discusses, this used the hidden(!) property of .XOffset to find where the bar centers are relative to the nominal position.

NB2: I used single color (black) above as the bars were so tiny didn't show up much otherwise; you can set them to match the bar colors as hBE is an array of handles, one to match each of hBar.

[Oleksandra Romanyshyn]

Thank you!! Worked perfect for me

[dpb]

Kewl! Guess the Answers site does help sometimes that a previous solution can be found by somebody looking...

That's nice to know, appreciate the feedback!

[Amardeep Singh]

Thanks for your great help, i thought i sent a shoutout but i jsut realized i didn't, so thanks once again for all your help.