# Meaning of 'x-\>a' in plotting

**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/meaning-of-x-a-in-plotting/108241
**Category:** New to Julia
**Tags:** question
**Created:** [January 2, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/meaning-of-x-a-in-plotting/108241 "2024-01-02T02:38:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![jiang\_ming\_zhang](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/jiang_ming_zhang/32/204063_2.png) [@jiang\_ming\_zhang](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jiang_ming_zhang)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/meaning-of-x-a-in-plotting/108241/1 "2024-01-02T02:38:32Z")

</div>

This is from some script:

```julia
plot!(x->se.mean, df.steps[steps_equilibrate+1:end], ribbon=se.err, label="shift mean")

```

What does the syntax ‘-\>’ mean here?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Oscar\_Smith](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oscar_smith/32/25343_2.png) [@Oscar\_Smith](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Oscar_Smith)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/meaning-of-x-a-in-plotting/108241/2 "2024-01-02T02:51:48Z")

</div>

this defines am anonymous function. it’s the same as if you defined

```julia
f(x)=se.mean
plot!(f, df.steps[steps_equilibrate+1:end], ribbon=se.err, label="shift mean")
```