day and month inverted in the time scaling

time x array : 04/05/2023 00:00:22.384 04/05/2023 00:00:59.361 04/05/2023 00:02:33.408

When using stairs function the legend in x is displayed Apr 05, 2023 where it should be May 04, 2023.

How can I set the time display?

Answer 1

[Dyuman Joshi]

Extract the day and month from the datetime values and swap them.

%Example
in = [datetime(2023,4,5,00,00,22.384) datetime(2023,4,5,00,00,59.361) datetime(2023,4,5,00,02,33.408)]

in = 1×3 datetime array
   05-Apr-2023 00:00:22   05-Apr-2023 00:00:59   05-Apr-2023 00:02:33

%Get year month and day
[y,m,d] = ymd(in)

y = 1×3

2023 2023 2023

m = 1×3

4 4 4

d = 1×3

5 5 5

%Get hour minute and second
[H,M,S] = hms(in);

out = datetime(y,d,m,H,M,S)

out = 1×3 datetime array
   04-May-2023 00:00:22   04-May-2023 00:00:59   04-May-2023 00:02:33

[Sébastien Ruiz]

This solution has solved the problem.

[Dyuman Joshi]

@Sébastien Ruiz, please consider accepting my answer then :)

[Sébastien Ruiz]

This solution worked and thus I applied it. Thanks for this tip.

Answer 2

[Les Beckham]

If you created your "time x array" by reading strings from a text file, for example, you need to specify the 'InputFormat' argument when you read the strings using the datetime function (see documentation here).

date_strings = ["04/05/2023 00:00:22.384", "04/05/2023 00:00:59.361", "04/05/2023 00:02:33.408"];

time_x_array = datetime(date_strings, 'InputFormat', 'dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.SSS')

time_x_array = 1×3 datetime array
   04-May-2023 00:00:22   04-May-2023 00:00:59   04-May-2023 00:02:33

[Steven Lord]

Note that if you don't include the InputFormat, MATLAB will warn you that your text data is ambiguous. It can't tell whether the month or the date is first. It will even suggest the alternate format that also matches the text representation.

date_strings = ["04/05/2023 00:00:22.384", "04/05/2023 00:00:59.361", "04/05/2023 00:02:33.408"];

time_x_array = datetime(date_strings)%, 'InputFormat', 'dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.SSS')

Warning: Successfully converted the text to datetime using the format 'MM/dd/uuuu HH:mm:ss.SSS', but the format is ambiguous and could also be 'dd/MM/uuuu HH:mm:ss.SSS'. To create datetimes from text with a specific format call:

datetime(textinput,'InputFormat',infmt)

time_x_array = 1×3 datetime array
   05-Apr-2023 00:00:22   05-Apr-2023 00:00:59   05-Apr-2023 00:02:33

While MATLAB Answers runs the most recent release of MATLAB, I confirmed that this warning appears in release R2021b as well.

[Dyuman Joshi]

It appears in R2021a as well.