""" ================================================= Creating multiple subplots using ``plt.subplots`` ================================================= `.pyplot.subplots` creates a figure and a grid of subplots with a single call, while providing reasonable control over how the individual plots are created. For more advanced use cases you can use `.GridSpec` for a more general subplot layout or `.Figure.add_subplot` for adding subplots at arbitrary locations within the figure. """ # sphinx_gallery_thumbnail_number = 11 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np # Some example data to display x = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 400) y = np.sin(x ** 2) ############################################################################### # A figure with just one subplot # """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" # # ``subplots()`` without arguments returns a `.Figure` and a single # `~.axes.Axes`. # # This is actually the simplest and recommended way of creating a single # Figure and Axes. fig, ax = plt.subplots() ax.plot(x, y) ax.set_title('A single plot') ############################################################################### # Stacking subplots in one direction # """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" # # The first two optional arguments of `.pyplot.subplots` define the number of # rows and columns of the subplot grid. # # When stacking in one direction only, the returned ``axs`` is a 1D numpy array # containing the list of created Axes. fig, axs = plt.subplots(2) fig.suptitle('Vertically stacked subplots') axs[0].plot(x, y) axs[1].plot(x, -y) ############################################################################### # If you are creating just a few Axes, it's handy to unpack them immediately to # dedicated variables for each Axes. That way, we can use ``ax1`` instead of # the more verbose ``axs[0]``. fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(2) fig.suptitle('Vertically stacked subplots') ax1.plot(x, y) ax2.plot(x, -y) ############################################################################### # To obtain side-by-side subplots, pass parameters ``1, 2`` for one row and two # columns. fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(1, 2) fig.suptitle('Horizontally stacked subplots') ax1.plot(x, y) ax2.plot(x, -y) ############################################################################### # Stacking subplots in two directions # """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" # # When stacking in two directions, the returned ``axs`` is a 2D NumPy array. # # If you have to set parameters for each subplot it's handy to iterate over # all subplots in a 2D grid using ``for ax in axs.flat:``. fig, axs = plt.subplots(2, 2) axs[0, 0].plot(x, y) axs[0, 0].set_title('Axis [0, 0]') axs[0, 1].plot(x, y, 'tab:orange') axs[0, 1].set_title('Axis [0, 1]') axs[1, 0].plot(x, -y, 'tab:green') axs[1, 0].set_title('Axis [1, 0]') axs[1, 1].plot(x, -y, 'tab:red') axs[1, 1].set_title('Axis [1, 1]') for ax in axs.flat: ax.set(xlabel='x-label', ylabel='y-label') # Hide x labels and tick labels for top plots and y ticks for right plots. for ax in axs.flat: ax.label_outer() ############################################################################### # You can use tuple-unpacking also in 2D to assign all subplots to dedicated # variables: fig, ((ax1, ax2), (ax3, ax4)) = plt.subplots(2, 2) fig.suptitle('Sharing x per column, y per row') ax1.plot(x, y) ax2.plot(x, y**2, 'tab:orange') ax3.plot(x, -y, 'tab:green') ax4.plot(x, -y**2, 'tab:red') for ax in fig.get_axes(): ax.label_outer() ############################################################################### # Sharing axes # """""""""""" # # By default, each Axes is scaled individually. Thus, if the ranges are # different the tick values of the subplots do not align. fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(2) fig.suptitle('Axes values are scaled individually by default') ax1.plot(x, y) ax2.plot(x + 1, -y) ############################################################################### # You can use *sharex* or *sharey* to align the horizontal or vertical axis. fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(2, sharex=True) fig.suptitle('Aligning x-axis using sharex') ax1.plot(x, y) ax2.plot(x + 1, -y) ############################################################################### # Setting *sharex* or *sharey* to ``True`` enables global sharing across the # whole grid, i.e. also the y-axes of vertically stacked subplots have the # same scale when using ``sharey=True``. fig, axs = plt.subplots(3, sharex=True, sharey=True) fig.suptitle('Sharing both axes') axs[0].plot(x, y ** 2) axs[1].plot(x, 0.3 * y, 'o') axs[2].plot(x, y, '+') ############################################################################### # For subplots that are sharing axes one set of tick labels is enough. Tick # labels of inner Axes are automatically removed by *sharex* and *sharey*. # Still there remains an unused empty space between the subplots. # # To precisely control the positioning of the subplots, one can explicitly # create a `.GridSpec` with `.add_gridspec`, and then call its # `~.GridSpecBase.subplots` method. For example, we can reduce the height # between vertical subplots using ``add_gridspec(hspace=0)``. # # `.label_outer` is a handy method to remove labels and ticks from subplots # that are not at the edge of the grid. fig = plt.figure() gs = fig.add_gridspec(3, hspace=0) axs = gs.subplots(sharex=True, sharey=True) fig.suptitle('Sharing both axes') axs[0].plot(x, y ** 2) axs[1].plot(x, 0.3 * y, 'o') axs[2].plot(x, y, '+') # Hide x labels and tick labels for all but bottom plot. for ax in axs: ax.label_outer() ############################################################################### # Apart from ``True`` and ``False``, both *sharex* and *sharey* accept the # values 'row' and 'col' to share the values only per row or column. fig = plt.figure() gs = fig.add_gridspec(2, 2, hspace=0, wspace=0) (ax1, ax2), (ax3, ax4) = gs.subplots(sharex='col', sharey='row') fig.suptitle('Sharing x per column, y per row') ax1.plot(x, y) ax2.plot(x, y**2, 'tab:orange') ax3.plot(x + 1, -y, 'tab:green') ax4.plot(x + 2, -y**2, 'tab:red') for ax in axs.flat: ax.label_outer() ############################################################################### # If you want a more complex sharing structure, you can first create the # grid of axes with no sharing, and then call `.axes.Axes.sharex` or # `.axes.Axes.sharey` to add sharing info a posteriori. fig, axs = plt.subplots(2, 2) axs[0, 0].plot(x, y) axs[0, 0].set_title("main") axs[1, 0].plot(x, y**2) axs[1, 0].set_title("shares x with main") axs[1, 0].sharex(axs[0, 0]) axs[0, 1].plot(x + 1, y + 1) axs[0, 1].set_title("unrelated") axs[1, 1].plot(x + 2, y + 2) axs[1, 1].set_title("also unrelated") fig.tight_layout() ############################################################################### # Polar axes # """""""""" # # The parameter *subplot_kw* of `.pyplot.subplots` controls the subplot # properties (see also `.Figure.add_subplot`). In particular, this can be used # to create a grid of polar Axes. fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(1, 2, subplot_kw=dict(projection='polar')) ax1.plot(x, y) ax2.plot(x, y ** 2) plt.show()