How can I adjust the placement of y unit with pgfplots? I'm trying to put it near the top-left corner of the graph box. However, there may (but does not have to) be a scientific multiplier. As shown in the professionally type-set picture below, the unit should be displayed just after the multiplier and of course be lined up with it as if written as a whole: $10^3$[m]. In case values on y axis were smaller and exponential notation wasn't shown, the [m] unit should be still rendered above the top-left corner, but preferably closer to the left edge.
I'm aware of the fact that the [m] unit in the picture is drawn along with y axis label. I don't need to put the whole y label near the multiplier, but just the unit. In fact I don't need the axis label at all. Is it possible to control how the scientific multiplier is formatted and append a unit?
I'm not sure whether it's important, but for the sake of completeness, let me add that I have incorporated Jake's tick scaling solution from here to have only exponents, which are a multiple of 3.
MWE provided:
\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepgfplotslibrary{units}
\makeatletter
\newif\ifpgfplots@scaled@x@ticks@engineering
\pgfplots@scaled@x@ticks@engineeringfalse
\newif\ifpgfplots@scaled@y@ticks@engineering
\pgfplots@scaled@y@ticks@engineeringfalse
\newif\ifpgfplots@scaled@z@ticks@engineering
\pgfplots@scaled@z@ticks@engineeringfalse
\pgfplotsset{
scaled x ticks/engineering/.code=
\pgfplots@scaled@x@ticks@engineeringtrue,
scaled y ticks/engineering/.code=
\pgfplots@scaled@y@ticks@engineeringtrue,
scaled z ticks/engineering/.code=
\pgfplots@scaled@y@ticks@engineeringtrue,
% scaled ticks=engineering % Uncomment this line if you want "engineering" to be on by default
}
\def\pgfplots@init@scaled@tick@for#1{%
\global\def\pgfplots@glob@TMPa{0}%
\expandafter\pgfplotslistcheckempty\csname pgfplots@prepared@tick@positions@major@#1\endcsname
\ifpgfplotslistempty
% we have no tick labels. Omit the tick scale label as well!
\else
\begingroup
\ifcase\csname pgfplots@scaled@ticks@#1@choice\endcsname\relax
% CASE 0 : scaled #1 ticks=false: do nothing here.
\or
% CASE 1 : scaled #1 ticks=true:
%--------------------------------
% the \pgfplots@xmin@unscaled@as@float is set just before the data
% scale transformation is initialised.
%
% The variables are empty if there is no datascale transformation.
\expandafter\let\expandafter\pgfplots@cur@min@unscaled\csname pgfplots@#1min@unscaled@as@float\endcsname
\expandafter\let\expandafter\pgfplots@cur@max@unscaled\csname pgfplots@#1max@unscaled@as@float\endcsname
%
\ifx\pgfplots@cur@min@unscaled\pgfutil@empty
\edef\pgfplots@loc@TMPa{\csname pgfplots@#1min\endcsname}%
\expandafter\pgfmathfloatparsenumber\expandafter{\pgfplots@loc@TMPa}%
\let\pgfplots@cur@min@unscaled=\pgfmathresult
\edef\pgfplots@loc@TMPa{\csname pgfplots@#1max\endcsname}%
\expandafter\pgfmathfloatparsenumber\expandafter{\pgfplots@loc@TMPa}%
\let\pgfplots@cur@max@unscaled=\pgfmathresult
\fi
%
\expandafter\pgfmathfloat@decompose@E\pgfplots@cur@min@unscaled\relax\pgfmathfloat@a@E
\expandafter\pgfmathfloat@decompose@E\pgfplots@cur@max@unscaled\relax\pgfmathfloat@b@E
\pgfplots@init@scaled@tick@normalize@exponents
\ifnum\pgfmathfloat@b@E<\pgfmathfloat@a@E
\pgfmathfloat@b@E=\pgfmathfloat@a@E
\fi
\xdef\pgfplots@glob@TMPa{\pgfplots@scale@ticks@above@exponent}%
\ifnum\pgfplots@glob@TMPa<\pgfmathfloat@b@E
% ok, scale it:
\expandafter\ifx % Check whether we're using engineering notation (restricting exponents to multiples of three)
\csname ifpgfplots@scaled@#1@ticks@engineering\expandafter\endcsname
\csname iftrue\endcsname
\divide\pgfmathfloat@b@E by 3
\multiply\pgfmathfloat@b@E by 3
\fi
\multiply\pgfmathfloat@b@E by-1
\xdef\pgfplots@glob@TMPa{\the\pgfmathfloat@b@E}%
\else
\xdef\pgfplots@glob@TMPa{\pgfplots@scale@ticks@below@exponent}%
\ifnum\pgfplots@glob@TMPa>\pgfmathfloat@b@E
% ok, scale it:
\expandafter\ifx % Check whether we're using engineering notation (restricting exponents to multiples of three)
\csname ifpgfplots@scaled@#1@ticks@engineering\expandafter\endcsname
\csname iftrue\endcsname
\advance\pgfmathfloat@b@E by -2
\divide\pgfmathfloat@b@E by 3
\multiply\pgfmathfloat@b@E by 3
\fi
\multiply\pgfmathfloat@b@E by-1
\xdef\pgfplots@glob@TMPa{\the\pgfmathfloat@b@E}%
\else
% no scaling necessary:
\xdef\pgfplots@glob@TMPa{0}%
\fi
\fi
\or
% CASE 2 : scaled #1 ticks=base 10:
%--------------------------------
\c@pgf@counta=\csname pgfplots@scaled@ticks@#1@arg\endcsname\relax
%\multiply\c@pgf@counta by-1
\xdef\pgfplots@glob@TMPa{\the\c@pgf@counta}%
\or
% CASE 3 : scaled #1 ticks=real:
%--------------------------------
\pgfmathfloatparsenumber{\csname pgfplots@scaled@ticks@#1@arg\endcsname}%
\global\let\pgfplots@glob@TMPa=\pgfmathresult
\or
% CASE 4 : scaled #1 ticks=manual:
\expandafter\global\expandafter\let\expandafter\pgfplots@glob@TMPa\csname pgfplots@scaled@ticks@#1@arg\endcsname
\fi
\endgroup
\fi
\expandafter\let\csname pgfplots@tick@scale@#1\endcsname=\pgfplots@glob@TMPa%
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[scaled ticks=engineering, y unit=m,height=4cm]
\addplot [domain=0:1] {10000*\x};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
The multiplier should be printed as $\cdot10^3$[m] instead of merely $\cdot10^3$.
\end{document}
ylabelthat contains anything other than the unit? In that case, the solution would probably be quite easy. If you do want to have the option to have a label along the axis and the unit next to the multiplier, one would have to redefine some stuff from the units library. Also, are you sure you want the square brackets around the unit?ylabelfor description, because I'm trying to save space on sides.ylabelcan be sacrificed for the purpose of holding a unit, while description appears in plot title. Square brackets aren't necessary anymore, if the unit is placed just after the multiplier.