matplotlib.pyplot.axes

matplotlib.pyplot.axes(arg=None, **kwargs)[source]

Add an axes to the current figure and make it the current axes.

Call signatures:

plt.axes()
plt.axes(rect, projection=None, polar=False, **kwargs)
plt.axes(ax)
Parameters:
argNone or 4-tuple

The exact behavior of this function depends on the type:

  • None: A new full window axes is added using subplot(111, **kwargs).
  • 4-tuple of floats rect = [left, bottom, width, height]. A new axes is added with dimensions rect in normalized (0, 1) units using add_axes on the current figure.
projection{None, 'aitoff', 'hammer', 'lambert', 'mollweide', 'polar', 'rectilinear', str}, optional

The projection type of the Axes. str is the name of a custom projection, see projections. The default None results in a 'rectilinear' projection.

polarbool, default: False

If True, equivalent to projection='polar'.

sharex, shareyAxes, optional

Share the x or y axis with sharex and/or sharey. The axis will have the same limits, ticks, and scale as the axis of the shared axes.

labelstr

A label for the returned axes.

Returns:
Axes, or a subclass of Axes

The returned axes class depends on the projection used. It is Axes if rectilinear projection is used and projections.polar.PolarAxes if polar projection is used.

Other Parameters:
**kwargs

This method also takes the keyword arguments for the returned axes class. The keyword arguments for the rectilinear axes class Axes can be found in the following table but there might also be other keyword arguments if another projection is used, see the actual axes class.

Property Description
adjustable {'box', 'datalim'}
agg_filter a filter function, which takes a (m, n, 3) float array and a dpi value, and returns a (m, n, 3) array
alpha float or None
anchor 2-tuple of floats or {'C', 'SW', 'S', 'SE', ...}
animated bool
aspect {'auto'} or num
autoscale_on bool
autoscalex_on bool
autoscaley_on bool
axes_locator Callable[[Axes, Renderer], Bbox]
axisbelow bool or 'line'
box_aspect None, or a number
clip_box Bbox
clip_on bool
clip_path Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
contains unknown
facecolor or fc color
figure Figure
frame_on bool
gid str
in_layout bool
label object
navigate bool
navigate_mode unknown
path_effects AbstractPathEffect
picker None or bool or callable
position [left, bottom, width, height] or Bbox
prop_cycle unknown
rasterization_zorder float or None
rasterized bool or None
sketch_params (scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
snap bool or None
title str
transform Transform
url str
visible bool
xbound unknown
xlabel str
xlim (bottom: float, top: float)
xmargin float greater than -0.5
xscale {"linear", "log", "symlog", "logit", ...}
xticklabels unknown
xticks unknown
ybound unknown
ylabel str
ylim (bottom: float, top: float)
ymargin float greater than -0.5
yscale {"linear", "log", "symlog", "logit", ...}
yticklabels unknown
yticks unknown
zorder float

Notes

If the figure already has a axes with key (args, kwargs) then it will simply make that axes current and return it. This behavior is deprecated. Meanwhile, if you do not want this behavior (i.e., you want to force the creation of a new axes), you must use a unique set of args and kwargs. The axes label attribute has been exposed for this purpose: if you want two axes that are otherwise identical to be added to the figure, make sure you give them unique labels.

Examples

# Creating a new full window axes
plt.axes()

# Creating a new axes with specified dimensions and some kwargs
plt.axes((left, bottom, width, height), facecolor='w')