%% Use Semiautomatic Axis Limits
% Set the maximum x-axis limit to 0 and the minimum y-axis limit to -1. Let MATLAB choose the other limits. For an automatically calculated minimum or maximum limit, use -inf or inf, respectively.

[X,Y,Z] = peaks;
surf(X,Y,Z)
xlabel('x-axis')
ylabel('y-axis')
xlim([-inf 0]) 
ylim([-1 inf])

% Copyright 2012 The MathWorks, Inc.