Hide tick numbers in a TikZ/PGF axis environment.

Question

I have a TikZ/PGF axis enviroment where by default numbers are shown along the ticks.

I want it to look like this:

(Axis without tick numbers)

I found out how to modify the ticks itself using something like

    x tick label style={major tick length=0pt}

in the options of an axis environment. But I couldn't find out how to modify the numbers along the ticks itself. Isn't there an option to hide them?

My current code to generate the 1st example:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{plotmarks}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
      title={Test Axis},
      xlabel={Test X Label},
      ylabel={Test Y Label},
    ]
    \end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Just add yticklabels={,,} to the options for the axis environment. Your example then looks like shown below.

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{plotmarks}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[%
      title={Test Axis},
      xlabel={Test X Label},
      ylabel={Test Y Label},
      yticklabels={,,}
    ]
    \end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

This feature is documented in Section 4.14.2 (Tick Alignment: Positions and Shifts) on page 180 of the pgfplots 1.4.1 manual. Quite hidden in the last example of the mentioned section.

Answer 2

The line

\pgfplotsset{ticks=none}

removes both ticks an labels.

Regarding hiding only the tick labels: one idea is to set the tick label color to the backround color. For example:

\pgfplotsset{tick label style={color=white},
  label style={font=\small},
  legend style={font=\small}

To shift the axis label, additionally modify the corresponding style, for example:

\pgfplotsset{every axis x label/.style={
  at={(0.5,0)},
  below,
  yshift=-5pt}}

Adjust the yshift parameter. Similar for the y axis.

\pgfplotsset{every axis y label/.style={
  at={(0,0.5)},
  xshift=-15pt,
  rotate=90}}

Answer 3

I've stumbled upon a nice solution using \empty as argument for the labels you want to hide, e.g. yticklabels=\empty.

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{plotmarks}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
      title={Test Axis},
      xlabel={Test X Label},
      ylabel={Test Y Label},
      yticklabels=\empty,
    ]
    \end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

The above produces

Answer 4

In my opinion, the cleanest way to remove all tick labels for the y axis is to use yticklabel=\empty or yticklabel={\empty} (xticklabel=\empty would do the same for the x axis). Note that there is no s in yticklabel!

This works because the /pgfplots/xticklabel, /pgfplots/yticklabel and /pgfplots/zticklabel keys accept a {〈code〉} argument that defines how to format each tick in a generic way—see the excerpt from the pgfplots manual reproduced below.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.16}

\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
      title={Test axis},
      xlabel={Test $x$ label},
      ylabel={Test $y$ label},
      yticklabel=\empty,
    ]
    \end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Quote from the pgfplots manual

What follows is the beginning of the documentation for the /pgfplots/xticklabel, /pgfplots/yticklabel and /pgfplots/zticklabel keys in the pgfplots manual, version 1.16 (latest release as of January 2020).

/pgfplots/xticklabel={〈command〉}
/pgfplots/yticklabel={〈command〉}
/pgfplots/zticklabel={〈command〉}

These keys change the TeX command which creates the tick labels assigned to each tick position (see options xtick and ytick).

This is one of the two options to assign tick labels directly. The other option is xticklabels={〈label list〉} (or yticklabels={〈label list〉}). The option xticklabel offers higher flexibility while xticklabels is easier to use.

The argument 〈command〉 can be any TeX text. The following commands are valid inside of 〈command〉:

• \tick The current element of option xtick (or ytick).
• \ticknum The current tick number, starting with 0 (it is a macro containing a number).
• \nexttick This command is only valid if the x tick label as interval option is set (or the corresponding variable for y). It will contain the position of the next tick, that means the right boundary of the tick interval.

The default argument is

• \axisdefaultticklabel for normal plots:

  \def\axisdefaultticklabel{$\pgfmathprintnumber{\tick}$}
  

• \axisdefaultticklabellog for log plots:

  \def\axisdefaultticklabellog{%
      \pgfkeysgetvalue{/pgfplots/log number format code/.@cmd}\pgfplots@log@label@style
      \expandafter\pgfplots@log@label@style\tick\pgfeov
  }