How to set the margins for a matplotlib figure?

Question

I am generating an on-screen figure that has two subplots: one is an image and the other is a graph. The margins are extremely large around the figures.

How do I adjust the margins around the figures?

Most questions that I searched for involved saving images (bbox seemed perfect), and using axes instead of subplots for absolute positioning.

Here is the code I used to generate the figure:

def __init__(self, parent):
    wx.Panel.__init__(self, parent)
    ...

    self.figure, (self.picture, self.intensity) = \
        plt.subplots(nrows=2, figsize=(12, 5))
    self.figure.set_dpi(80)
    #self.figure.subplots_adjust(left=0.1, right=0.9, top=0.9, bottom=0.1)
    #self.picture.imshow(np.random.uniform()) #size=(5, 50)))
    self.intensity.plot(np.random.random()) #size=641))

    self.intensity.autoscale(axis='x', tight=True)

have a look at plt.tight_layout() or plt.subplots_adjust() or fig.savefig(bbox_inches='tight') — bmu, Jun 05 '12 at 15:53
Lots of functions work only for Pylab mode and saving figures. I want something that works for a `Figure` object. — Jesvin Jose, Jun 07 '12 at 05:13
@Yann, ok, thanks. more or less some links but should be sufficient to answer the question. — bmu, Jun 07 '12 at 07:05

bmu · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-19T16:58:16.663

27

Have a look at plt.tight_layout() or plt.subplots_adjust() or fig.savefig(bbox_inches='tight').

With subplots_adjust you can adjust most parameters, while tight_layout() and bbox_inches='tight' are more or less semi automatic.

edited Jun 19 '12 at 16:58

answered Jun 07 '12 at 07:03

bmu

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score -3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 18 '13 at 14:23

-3

You can also use plt.set(), with the attributes given in the adjust plot menu, e.g. set(top=0.82) etc.

answered Feb 18 '13 at 14:23

Tritlo

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I have not found matplotlib.pyplot.set in the documentation http://matplotlib.org/api/pyplot_api.html – usernumber Aug 11 '15 at 09:33
They have probably changed their API in the last 2 years. – Tritlo Aug 14 '15 at 18:36

How to set the margins for a matplotlib figure?

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