Why can't I draw a line in this tikz graph?

Question

\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\draw[thick, dotted] (0,0) -- (1,1);
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{figure}
\end{document}
\end{document}

In short: you have to define the axis limits (if you don't insert any plots) with [xmin=0, xmax=1, ymin=0, ymax=1] and use (axis cs:0,0) -- (axis cs:1,1) (for older versions of pgfplots) or \pgfplotsset{compat=1.13}. — dexteritas, Oct 20 '22 at 09:44
Welcome! ...you should have had a lot of warnings from pgfplots, about both the compatibility level and the null axis range. Never blindly ignore warnings... they are there for something! — Rmano, Oct 20 '22 at 10:18

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 20 '22 at 09:47

Always set compat level when using PGFPlots. Do not use explicit axis cs: - it is default since level 1.11. To not have completely empty axis, set xmin, xmax, ymin and ymax or add a plot.

\documentclass[tikz, border=1cm]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.18}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[xmin=0, xmax=1, ymin=0, ymax=1]
\draw[thick, dotted] (0,0) -- (1,1);
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Why can't I draw a line in this tikz graph?

1 Answers1