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In ListLinePlot, I'm attempting to construct my own ColorFunction for coloring points differently based on a third dimension of data not plotted to a specific axis. However, ColorFunction only uses variables corresponding to the specific data inserted, so that third dimension of data is not available internally. Therefore, if I want to use it in my plot, I have to reference it externally.

Here's an example setup:

data := Table[{Range[0, 2] + x}, {x, 0, 20}][[All, 1]]

Produces the following list:

{{0, 1, 2}, {1, 2, 3}, {2, 3, 4}, {3, 4, 5}, {4, 5, 6}, {5, 6, 7}, {6,
   7, 8}, {7, 8, 9}, {8, 9, 10}, {9, 10, 11}, {10, 11, 12}, {11, 12, 
  13}, {12, 13, 14}, {13, 14, 15}, {14, 15, 16}, {15, 16, 17}, {16, 
  17, 18}, {17, 18, 19}, {18, 19, 20}, {19, 20, 21}, {20, 21, 22}}

Now, I want to plot this list as a 2D graph with the first and second entries corresponding to x and y, and the third entry corresponding to a color. Here's what I tried:

ListLinePlot[data[[All, {1, 2}]],
 ColorFunction -> Function[{x, y}, Hue[data[[x + 1, 3]]/22]]
 ]

This produces errors like this:

Part::pspec: Part specification 1.05` is neither a machine-sized integer nor a list of machine-sized integers. 
Part::pspec: Part specification 1.05` is neither a machine-sized integer nor a list of machine-sized integers. 
Part::pspec: Part specification 1.1` is neither a machine-sized integer nor a list of machine-sized integers. 
General::stop: Further output of Part::pspec will be suppressed during this calculation. 

The final output is a graph with variable but unexpected coloring. Substituting a regular number in for x in the ColorFunction's Function performs correctly (e.g., Function[{x, y}, Hue[data[[0 + 1, 3]]/22]]).

I can't see why I can't use given variables in a ColorFunction for referencing external objects. What have I done wrong? Why are these messages being generated, and what do they mean?

Update: here's the graph outputted by the version attempting to use x as an index:

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1 Answer 1

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The option ColorFunctionScaling defaults to True, therefore the x values passed to the ColorFunction are fractions between zero and one rather than integer indicies, and you cannot extract fractional parts. Add ColorFunctionScaling -> False to get the plot you want:

ListLinePlot[data[[All, {1, 2}]], 
  ColorFunction -> Function[{x, y}, Hue[data[[x + 1, 3]]/22]], 
  ColorFunctionScaling -> False
]

enter image description here

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