.. note:: :class: sphx-glr-download-link-note Click :ref:`here ` to download the full example code .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-example-title .. _sphx_glr_tutorials_intermediate_tight_layout_guide.py: ================== Tight Layout guide ================== How to use tight-layout to fit plots within your figure cleanly. *tight_layout* automatically adjusts subplot params so that the subplot(s) fits in to the figure area. This is an experimental feature and may not work for some cases. It only checks the extents of ticklabels, axis labels, and titles. An alternative to *tight_layout* is :doc:`constrained_layout `. Simple Example ============== In matplotlib, the location of axes (including subplots) are specified in normalized figure coordinates. It can happen that your axis labels or titles (or sometimes even ticklabels) go outside the figure area, and are thus clipped. .. code-block:: default # sphinx_gallery_thumbnail_number = 7 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np plt.rcParams['savefig.facecolor'] = "0.8" def example_plot(ax, fontsize=12): ax.plot([1, 2]) ax.locator_params(nbins=3) ax.set_xlabel('x-label', fontsize=fontsize) ax.set_ylabel('y-label', fontsize=fontsize) ax.set_title('Title', fontsize=fontsize) plt.close('all') fig, ax = plt.subplots() example_plot(ax, fontsize=24) .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_001.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img To prevent this, the location of axes needs to be adjusted. For subplots, this can be done by adjusting the subplot params (:ref:`howto-subplots-adjust`). Matplotlib v1.1 introduces a new command :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` that does this automatically for you. .. code-block:: default fig, ax = plt.subplots() example_plot(ax, fontsize=24) plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_002.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img Note that :func:`matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` will only adjust the subplot params when it is called. In order to perform this adjustment each time the figure is redrawn, you can call ``fig.set_tight_layout(True)``, or, equivalently, set the ``figure.autolayout`` rcParam to ``True``. When you have multiple subplots, often you see labels of different axes overlapping each other. .. code-block:: default plt.close('all') fig, ((ax1, ax2), (ax3, ax4)) = plt.subplots(nrows=2, ncols=2) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) example_plot(ax3) example_plot(ax4) .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_003.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` will also adjust spacing between subplots to minimize the overlaps. .. code-block:: default fig, ((ax1, ax2), (ax3, ax4)) = plt.subplots(nrows=2, ncols=2) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) example_plot(ax3) example_plot(ax4) plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_004.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` can take keyword arguments of *pad*, *w_pad* and *h_pad*. These control the extra padding around the figure border and between subplots. The pads are specified in fraction of fontsize. .. code-block:: default fig, ((ax1, ax2), (ax3, ax4)) = plt.subplots(nrows=2, ncols=2) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) example_plot(ax3) example_plot(ax4) plt.tight_layout(pad=0.4, w_pad=0.5, h_pad=1.0) .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_005.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` will work even if the sizes of subplots are different as far as their grid specification is compatible. In the example below, *ax1* and *ax2* are subplots of a 2x2 grid, while *ax3* is of a 1x2 grid. .. code-block:: default plt.close('all') fig = plt.figure() ax1 = plt.subplot(221) ax2 = plt.subplot(223) ax3 = plt.subplot(122) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) example_plot(ax3) plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_006.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img It works with subplots created with :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.subplot2grid`. In general, subplots created from the gridspec (:doc:`/tutorials/intermediate/gridspec`) will work. .. code-block:: default plt.close('all') fig = plt.figure() ax1 = plt.subplot2grid((3, 3), (0, 0)) ax2 = plt.subplot2grid((3, 3), (0, 1), colspan=2) ax3 = plt.subplot2grid((3, 3), (1, 0), colspan=2, rowspan=2) ax4 = plt.subplot2grid((3, 3), (1, 2), rowspan=2) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) example_plot(ax3) example_plot(ax4) plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_007.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img Although not thoroughly tested, it seems to work for subplots with aspect != "auto" (e.g., axes with images). .. code-block:: default arr = np.arange(100).reshape((10, 10)) plt.close('all') fig = plt.figure(figsize=(5, 4)) ax = plt.subplot(111) im = ax.imshow(arr, interpolation="none") plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_008.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img Caveats ======= * :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` only considers ticklabels, axis labels, and titles. Thus, other artists may be clipped and also may overlap. * It assumes that the extra space needed for ticklabels, axis labels, and titles is independent of original location of axes. This is often true, but there are rare cases where it is not. * pad=0 clips some of the texts by a few pixels. This may be a bug or a limitation of the current algorithm and it is not clear why it happens. Meanwhile, use of pad at least larger than 0.3 is recommended. Use with GridSpec ================= GridSpec has its own :func:`~matplotlib.gridspec.GridSpec.tight_layout` method (the pyplot api :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` also works). .. code-block:: default import matplotlib.gridspec as gridspec plt.close('all') fig = plt.figure() gs1 = gridspec.GridSpec(2, 1) ax1 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[0]) ax2 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[1]) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) gs1.tight_layout(fig) .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_009.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img You may provide an optional *rect* parameter, which specifies the bounding box that the subplots will be fit inside. The coordinates must be in normalized figure coordinates and the default is (0, 0, 1, 1). .. code-block:: default fig = plt.figure() gs1 = gridspec.GridSpec(2, 1) ax1 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[0]) ax2 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[1]) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) gs1.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0, 0, 0.5, 1]) .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_010.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img For example, this can be used for a figure with multiple gridspecs. .. code-block:: default fig = plt.figure() gs1 = gridspec.GridSpec(2, 1) ax1 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[0]) ax2 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[1]) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) gs1.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0, 0, 0.5, 1]) gs2 = gridspec.GridSpec(3, 1) for ss in gs2: ax = fig.add_subplot(ss) example_plot(ax) ax.set_title("") ax.set_xlabel("") ax.set_xlabel("x-label", fontsize=12) gs2.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0.5, 0, 1, 1], h_pad=0.5) # We may try to match the top and bottom of two grids :: top = min(gs1.top, gs2.top) bottom = max(gs1.bottom, gs2.bottom) gs1.update(top=top, bottom=bottom) gs2.update(top=top, bottom=bottom) plt.show() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_011.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img While this should be mostly good enough, adjusting top and bottom may require adjustment of hspace also. To update hspace & vspace, we call :func:`~matplotlib.gridspec.GridSpec.tight_layout` again with updated rect argument. Note that the rect argument specifies the area including the ticklabels, etc. Thus, we will increase the bottom (which is 0 for the normal case) by the difference between the *bottom* from above and the bottom of each gridspec. Same thing for the top. .. code-block:: default fig = plt.gcf() gs1 = gridspec.GridSpec(2, 1) ax1 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[0]) ax2 = fig.add_subplot(gs1[1]) example_plot(ax1) example_plot(ax2) gs1.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0, 0, 0.5, 1]) gs2 = gridspec.GridSpec(3, 1) for ss in gs2: ax = fig.add_subplot(ss) example_plot(ax) ax.set_title("") ax.set_xlabel("") ax.set_xlabel("x-label", fontsize=12) gs2.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0.5, 0, 1, 1], h_pad=0.5) top = min(gs1.top, gs2.top) bottom = max(gs1.bottom, gs2.bottom) gs1.update(top=top, bottom=bottom) gs2.update(top=top, bottom=bottom) top = min(gs1.top, gs2.top) bottom = max(gs1.bottom, gs2.bottom) gs1.tight_layout(fig, rect=[None, 0 + (bottom-gs1.bottom), 0.5, 1 - (gs1.top-top)]) gs2.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0.5, 0 + (bottom-gs2.bottom), None, 1 - (gs2.top-top)], h_pad=0.5) .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_012.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img Legends and Annotations ======================= Pre Matplotlib 2.2, legends and annotations were excluded from the bounding box calculations that decide the layout. Subsequently these artists were added to the calculation, but sometimes it is undesirable to include them. For instance in this case it might be good to have the axes shring a bit to make room for the legend: .. code-block:: default fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(4, 3)) lines = ax.plot(range(10), label='A simple plot') ax.legend(bbox_to_anchor=(0.7, 0.5), loc='center left',) fig.tight_layout() plt.show() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_013.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img However, sometimes this is not desired (quite often when using ``fig.savefig('outname.png', bbox_inches='tight')``). In order to remove the legend from the bounding box calculation, we simply set its bounding ``leg.set_in_layout(False)`` and the legend will be ignored. .. code-block:: default fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(4, 3)) lines = ax.plot(range(10), label='B simple plot') leg = ax.legend(bbox_to_anchor=(0.7, 0.5), loc='center left',) leg.set_in_layout(False) fig.tight_layout() plt.show() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_014.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img Use with AxesGrid1 ================== While limited, :mod:`mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1` is also supported. .. code-block:: default from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1 import Grid plt.close('all') fig = plt.figure() grid = Grid(fig, rect=111, nrows_ncols=(2, 2), axes_pad=0.25, label_mode='L', ) for ax in grid: example_plot(ax) ax.title.set_visible(False) plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_015.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img Colorbar ======== If you create a colorbar with the :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.colorbar` command, the created colorbar is an instance of Axes, *not* Subplot, so tight_layout does not work. With Matplotlib v1.1, you may create a colorbar as a subplot using the gridspec. .. code-block:: default plt.close('all') arr = np.arange(100).reshape((10, 10)) fig = plt.figure(figsize=(4, 4)) im = plt.imshow(arr, interpolation="none") plt.colorbar(im, use_gridspec=True) plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_016.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img Another option is to use AxesGrid1 toolkit to explicitly create an axes for colorbar. .. code-block:: default from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1 import make_axes_locatable plt.close('all') arr = np.arange(100).reshape((10, 10)) fig = plt.figure(figsize=(4, 4)) im = plt.imshow(arr, interpolation="none") divider = make_axes_locatable(plt.gca()) cax = divider.append_axes("right", "5%", pad="3%") plt.colorbar(im, cax=cax) plt.tight_layout() .. image:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_017.png :class: sphx-glr-single-img .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-timing **Total running time of the script:** ( 0 minutes 1.711 seconds) .. _sphx_glr_download_tutorials_intermediate_tight_layout_guide.py: .. only :: html .. container:: sphx-glr-footer :class: sphx-glr-footer-example .. container:: sphx-glr-download :download:`Download Python source code: tight_layout_guide.py ` .. container:: sphx-glr-download :download:`Download Jupyter notebook: tight_layout_guide.ipynb ` .. only:: html .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-signature Keywords: matplotlib code example, codex, python plot, pyplot `Gallery generated by Sphinx-Gallery `_