Extension of "each nth point" for pgfplots

The option "each nth point={integer}" in pgfplots gives you the opportunity to plot only each nth point. This is necessary for instance for y error bars. However, the standard option does not allow you to specify an offset. In the following, two extensions are presented:

\makeatletter
\def\pgfplotsutil@decstringcounter#1{%
 \begingroup
  \c@pgf@counta=#1\relax
  \advance\c@pgf@counta by -1
  \edef#1{\the\c@pgf@counta}%
  \pgfmath@smuggleone#1%
 \endgroup
}%

\pgfplotsset{
/pgfplots/each nth point**/.style 2 args={%
/pgfplots/x filter/.append code={%
 \ifnum\coordindex=0
  \def\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter{#2}%
  \def\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter@zero{0}%
 \fi
 \ifx\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter@zero\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter
  \def\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter{#1}%
 \else
  \let\pgfmathresult\pgfutil@empty
 \fi
 \pgfplotsutil@decstringcounter\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter
}%
},
}

\pgfplotsset{
/pgfplots/each nth point*/.style 2 args={%
/pgfplots/x filter/.append code={%
 \ifnum\coordindex=0
  \def\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter{0}%
  \edef\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter@cmp{#1}%
 \else
  \ifnum\coordindex>#2\relax
   \pgfplotsutil@advancestringcounter\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter
   \ifx\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter@cmp\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter
    \def\c@pgfplots@eachnthpoint@xfilter{0}%
   \else
    \let\pgfmathresult\pgfutil@empty
   \fi
  \fi
 \fi
}%
},
}
\makeatother

With each nth point**={integer}{integer} you can specify the offset by the second number. With each nth point*={integer}{integer} you can specify by the second number how many sampes in the beginning are plotted (without being skipped).

When using filters with pgfplots, it is useful to turn off the filter messages:

\pgfplotsset{filter discard warning=false} %Turn off filter messages