.. only:: html

    .. note::
        :class: sphx-glr-download-link-note

        Click :ref:`here <sphx_glr_download_tutorials_toolkits_axes_grid.py>`     to download the full example code
    .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-example-title

    .. _sphx_glr_tutorials_toolkits_axes_grid.py:


==============================
Overview of axes_grid1 toolkit
==============================

Controlling the layout of plots with the
:mod:`mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1` toolkit.

.. _axes_grid1_users-guide-index:


What is axes_grid1 toolkit?
===========================

:mod:`mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1` is a collection of helper classes to ease
displaying (multiple) images with matplotlib. In matplotlib, the axes location
(and size) is specified in the normalized figure coordinates, which
may not be ideal for displaying images that needs to have a given
aspect ratio.  For example, it helps if you have a colorbar whose
height always matches that of the image.  `ImageGrid`_, `RGB Axes`_ and
`AxesDivider`_ are helper classes that deal with adjusting the
location of (multiple) Axes.  They provides a framework to adjust the
position of multiple axes at the drawing time. `ParasiteAxes`_
provides twinx(or twiny)-like features so that you can plot different
data (e.g., different y-scale) in a same Axes. `AnchoredArtists`_
includes custom artists which are placed at some anchored position,
like the legend.

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_demo_axes_grid_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/demo_axes_grid.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Demo Axes Grid


axes_grid1
==========

ImageGrid
---------

A grid of Axes.

In Matplotlib, the axes location (and size) is specified in normalized
figure coordinates. This may not be ideal for images that needs to be
displayed with a given aspect ratio; for example, it is difficult to
display multiple images of a same size with some fixed padding between
them.  `~.axes_grid1.axes_grid.ImageGrid` can be used in such a case; see its
docs for a detailed list of the parameters it accepts.

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_simple_axesgrid_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/simple_axesgrid.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Simple Axesgrid

* The position of each axes is determined at the drawing time (see
  `AxesDivider`_), so that the size of the entire grid fits in the
  given rectangle (like the aspect of axes). Note that in this example,
  the paddings between axes are fixed even if you changes the figure
  size.

* axes in the same column has a same axes width (in figure
  coordinate), and similarly, axes in the same row has a same
  height. The widths (height) of the axes in the same row (column) are
  scaled according to their view limits (xlim or ylim).

  .. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_simple_axesgrid2_001.png
     :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/simple_axesgrid2.html
     :align: center
     :scale: 50

     Simple Axes Grid

* xaxis are shared among axes in a same column. Similarly, yaxis are
  shared among axes in a same row. Therefore, changing axis properties
  (view limits, tick location, etc. either by plot commands or using
  your mouse in interactive backends) of one axes will affect all
  other shared axes.

The examples below show what you can do with ImageGrid.

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_demo_axes_grid_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/demo_axes_grid.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Demo Axes Grid


AxesDivider Class
-----------------

Behind the scene, the ImageGrid class and the RGBAxes class utilize the
`~.axes_grid1.axes_divider.AxesDivider` class, whose role is to calculate the
location of the axes at drawing time. Direct use of the
AxesDivider class will not be necessary for most users. The
axes_divider module provides a helper function
`~.axes_grid1.axes_divider.make_axes_locatable`, which can be useful.
It takes a existing axes instance and create a divider for it. ::

  ax = subplot(1, 1, 1)
  divider = make_axes_locatable(ax)

*make_axes_locatable* returns an instance of the
`~.axes_grid1.axes_divider.AxesDivider` class. It provides an
`~.AxesDivider.append_axes` method that
creates a new axes on the given side of ("top", "right", "bottom" and
"left") of the original axes.


colorbar whose height (or width) in sync with the master axes
-------------------------------------------------------------

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_simple_colorbar_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/simple_colorbar.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Simple Colorbar


scatter_hist.py with AxesDivider
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The :doc:`/gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/scatter_hist` example can be
rewritten using `~.axes_grid1.axes_divider.make_axes_locatable`::

    axScatter = subplot(111)
    axScatter.scatter(x, y)
    axScatter.set_aspect(1.)

    # create new axes on the right and on the top of the current axes.
    divider = make_axes_locatable(axScatter)
    axHistx = divider.append_axes("top", size=1.2, pad=0.1, sharex=axScatter)
    axHisty = divider.append_axes("right", size=1.2, pad=0.1, sharey=axScatter)

    # the scatter plot:
    # histograms
    bins = np.arange(-lim, lim + binwidth, binwidth)
    axHistx.hist(x, bins=bins)
    axHisty.hist(y, bins=bins, orientation='horizontal')

See the full source code below.

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_scatter_hist_locatable_axes_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/scatter_hist_locatable_axes.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Scatter Hist

The :doc:`/gallery/axes_grid1/scatter_hist_locatable_axes` using the
AxesDivider has some advantage over the
original :doc:`/gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/scatter_hist` in Matplotlib.
For example, you can set the aspect ratio of the scatter plot, even with the
x-axis or y-axis is shared accordingly.


ParasiteAxes
------------

The ParasiteAxes is an axes whose location is identical to its host
axes. The location is adjusted in the drawing time, thus it works even
if the host change its location (e.g., images).

In most cases, you first create a host axes, which provides a few
method that can be used to create parasite axes. They are *twinx*,
*twiny* (which are similar to twinx and twiny in the matplotlib) and
*twin*. *twin* takes an arbitrary transformation that maps between the
data coordinates of the host axes and the parasite axes.  *draw*
method of the parasite axes are never called. Instead, host axes
collects artists in parasite axes and draw them as if they belong to
the host axes, i.e., artists in parasite axes are merged to those of
the host axes and then drawn according to their zorder.  The host and
parasite axes modifies some of the axes behavior. For example, color
cycle for plot lines are shared between host and parasites. Also, the
legend command in host, creates a legend that includes lines in the
parasite axes.  To create a host axes, you may use *host_subplot* or
*host_axes* command.


Example 1. twinx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_parasite_simple_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/parasite_simple.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Parasite Simple


Example 2. twin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*twin* without a transform argument assumes that the parasite axes has the
same data transform as the host. This can be useful when you want the
top(or right)-axis to have different tick-locations, tick-labels, or
tick-formatter for bottom(or left)-axis. ::

  ax2 = ax.twin() # now, ax2 is responsible for "top" axis and "right" axis
  ax2.set_xticks([0., .5*np.pi, np.pi, 1.5*np.pi, 2*np.pi])
  ax2.set_xticklabels(["0", r"$\frac{1}{2}\pi$",
                       r"$\pi$", r"$\frac{3}{2}\pi$", r"$2\pi$"])


.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_simple_axisline4_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/simple_axisline4.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Simple Axisline4

A more sophisticated example using twin. Note that if you change the
x-limit in the host axes, the x-limit of the parasite axes will change
accordingly.


.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_parasite_simple2_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/parasite_simple2.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Parasite Simple2


AnchoredArtists
---------------

It's a collection of artists whose location is anchored to the (axes)
bbox, like the legend. It is derived from *OffsetBox* in Matplotlib, and
artist need to be drawn in the canvas coordinate. But, there is a
limited support for an arbitrary transform. For example, the ellipse
in the example below will have width and height in the data
coordinate.

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_simple_anchored_artists_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/simple_anchored_artists.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Simple Anchored Artists


InsetLocator
------------

:mod:`mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.inset_locator` provides helper classes
and functions to place your (inset) axes at the anchored position of
the parent axes, similarly to AnchoredArtist.

Using :func:`mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.inset_locator.inset_axes`, you
can have inset axes whose size is either fixed, or a fixed proportion
of the parent axes::

    inset_axes = inset_axes(parent_axes,
                            width="30%", # width = 30% of parent_bbox
                            height=1., # height : 1 inch
                            loc='lower left')

creates an inset axes whose width is 30% of the parent axes and whose
height is fixed at 1 inch.

You may creates your inset whose size is determined so that the data
scale of the inset axes to be that of the parent axes multiplied by
some factor. For example, ::

    inset_axes = zoomed_inset_axes(ax,
                                   0.5, # zoom = 0.5
                                   loc='upper right')

creates an inset axes whose data scale is half of the parent axes.
Here is complete examples.

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_inset_locator_demo_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/inset_locator_demo.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Inset Locator Demo

For example, :func:`.zoomed_inset_axes` can be used when you want the
inset represents the zoom-up of the small portion in the parent axes.
And :mod:`~mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.inset_locator` provides a helper
function :func:`.mark_inset` to mark the location of the area
represented by the inset axes.

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_inset_locator_demo2_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/inset_locator_demo2.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

   Inset Locator Demo2


RGB Axes
~~~~~~~~

RGBAxes is a helper class to conveniently show RGB composite
images. Like ImageGrid, the location of axes are adjusted so that the
area occupied by them fits in a given rectangle.  Also, the xaxis and
yaxis of each axes are shared. ::

    from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_rgb import RGBAxes

    fig = plt.figure()
    ax = RGBAxes(fig, [0.1, 0.1, 0.8, 0.8], pad=0.0)
    r, g, b = get_rgb()  # r, g, b are 2D images.
    ax.imshow_rgb(r, g, b)


.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_demo_axes_rgb_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/demo_axes_rgb.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50


AxesDivider
===========

The :mod:`mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_divider` module provides helper classes
to adjust the axes positions of a set of images at drawing time.

* :mod:`~mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_size` provides a class of
  units that are used to determine the size of each axes. For example,
  you can specify a fixed size.

* `~mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_divider.Divider` is the class that
  calculates the axes position. It divides the given rectangular area into
  several areas. The divider is initialized by setting the lists of horizontal
  and vertical sizes on which the division will be based. Then use
  :meth:`~mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_divider.Divider.new_locator`, which
  returns a callable object that can be used to set the axes_locator of the
  axes.

Here, we demonstrate how to achieve the following layout: we want to position
axes in a 3x4 grid (note that `.Divider` makes row indices start from the
*bottom*\(!) of the grid):

.. code-block:: none

   +--------+--------+--------+--------+
   | (2, 0) | (2, 1) | (2, 2) | (2, 3) |
   +--------+--------+--------+--------+
   | (1, 0) | (1, 1) | (1, 2) | (1, 3) |
   +--------+--------+--------+--------+
   | (0, 0) | (0, 1) | (0, 2) | (0, 3) |
   +--------+--------+--------+--------+

such that the bottom row has a fixed height of 2 (inches) and the top two rows
have a height ratio of 2 (middle) to 3 (top).  (For example, if the grid has
a size of 7 inches, the bottom row will be 2 inches, the middle row also 2
inches, and the top row 3 inches.)

These constraints are specified using classes from the
:mod:`~mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_size` module, namely::

    from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_size import Fixed, Scaled
    vert = [Fixed(2), Scaled(2), Scaled(3)]

(More generally, :mod:`~mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.axes_size` classes define a
``get_size(renderer)`` method that returns a pair of floats -- a relative size,
and an absolute size.  ``Fixed(2).get_size(renderer)`` returns ``(0, 2)``;
``Scaled(2).get_size(renderer)`` returns ``(2, 0)``.)

We use these constraints to initialize a `.Divider` object::

    rect = [0.2, 0.2, 0.6, 0.6]  # Position of the grid in the figure.
    vert = [Fixed(2), Scaled(2), Scaled(3)]  # As above.
    horiz = [...]  # Some other horizontal constraints.
    divider = Divider(fig, rect, horiz, vert)

then use `.Divider.new_locator` to create an `.AxesLocator` instance for a
given grid entry::

    locator = divider.new_locator(nx=0, ny=1)  # Grid entry (1, 0).

and make it responsible for locating the axes::

    ax.set_axes_locator(locator)

The `.AxesLocator` is a callable object that returns the location and size of
the cell at the first column and the second row.

Locators that spans over multiple cells can be created with, e.g.::

    # Columns #0 and #1 ("0-2 range"), row #1.
    locator = divider.new_locator(nx=0, nx1=2, ny=1)

See the example,

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_simple_axes_divider1_002.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/simple_axes_divider1.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50

You can also adjust the size of each axes according to its x or y
data limits (AxesX and AxesY).

.. figure:: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/images/sphx_glr_simple_axes_divider3_001.png
   :target: ../../gallery/axes_grid1/simple_axes_divider3.html
   :align: center
   :scale: 50


.. _sphx_glr_download_tutorials_toolkits_axes_grid.py:


.. only :: html

 .. container:: sphx-glr-footer
    :class: sphx-glr-footer-example



  .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-python

     :download:`Download Python source code: axes_grid.py <axes_grid.py>`



  .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-jupyter

     :download:`Download Jupyter notebook: axes_grid.ipynb <axes_grid.ipynb>`


.. only:: html

 .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-signature

    Keywords: matplotlib code example, codex, python plot, pyplot
    `Gallery generated by Sphinx-Gallery
    <https://sphinx-gallery.readthedocs.io>`_