
.. DO NOT EDIT.
.. THIS FILE WAS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED BY SPHINX-GALLERY.
.. TO MAKE CHANGES, EDIT THE SOURCE PYTHON FILE:
.. "tutorials/intermediate/tight_layout_guide.py"
.. LINE NUMBERS ARE GIVEN BELOW.

.. only:: html

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

        Click :ref:`here <sphx_glr_download_tutorials_intermediate_tight_layout_guide.py>`
        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
</tutorials/intermediate/constrainedlayout_guide>`.


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.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 26-46

.. code-block:: default



    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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_001.png
   :alt: Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_001.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_001_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 48-52

To prevent this, the location of axes needs to be adjusted. For
subplots, this can be done manually by adjusting the subplot parameters
using `.Figure.subplots_adjust`. `.Figure.tight_layout` does this
automatically.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 52-57

.. code-block:: default


    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
    example_plot(ax, fontsize=24)
    plt.tight_layout()




.. image-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_002.png
   :alt: Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_002.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_002_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 58-65

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 :rc:`figure.autolayout` to ``True``.

When you have multiple subplots, often you see labels of different
axes overlapping each other.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 65-74

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_003.png
   :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_003.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_003_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 75-77

:func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` will also adjust spacing between
subplots to minimize the overlaps.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 77-85

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_004.png
   :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_004.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_004_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 86-90

: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.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 90-98

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_005.png
   :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_005.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_005_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 99-103

: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.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 103-117

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_006.png
   :alt: Title, Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_006.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_006_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 118-121

It works with subplots created with
:func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.subplot2grid`. In general, subplots created
from the gridspec (:doc:`/tutorials/intermediate/arranging_axes`) will work.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 121-137

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_007.png
   :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_007.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_007_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 138-140

Although not thoroughly tested, it seems to work for subplots with
aspect != "auto" (e.g., axes with images).

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 140-151

.. code-block:: default


    arr = np.arange(100).reshape((10, 10))

    plt.close('all')
    fig = plt.figure(figsize=(5, 4))

    ax = plt.subplot()
    im = ax.imshow(arr, interpolation="none")

    plt.tight_layout()




.. image-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_008.png
   :alt: tight layout guide
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_008.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_008_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 152-172

Caveats
=======

* `~matplotlib.pyplot.tight_layout` considers all artists on the axes by
  default.  To remove an artist from the layout calculation you can call
  `.Artist.set_in_layout`.

* ``tight_layout`` assumes that the extra space needed for artists is
  independent of the original location of axes. This is often true, but there
  are rare cases where it is not.

* ``pad=0`` can clip some 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 larger than 0.3 is recommended.

Use with GridSpec
=================

GridSpec has its own `.GridSpec.tight_layout` method (the pyplot api
`.pyplot.tight_layout` also works).

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 172-187

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_009.png
   :alt: Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_009.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_009_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 188-191

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).

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 191-203

.. 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, 1.0])




.. image-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_010.png
   :alt: Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_010.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_010_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 204-209

However, we do not recommend that this be used to manually construct more
complicated layouts, like having one GridSpec in the left and one in the
right side of the figure. For these use cases, one should instead take
advantage of :doc:`/gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/gridspec_nested`, or
the :doc:`/gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/subfigures`.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 212-220

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 shrink a bit
to make room for the legend:

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 220-227

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_011.png
   :alt: tight layout guide
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_011.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_011_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 228-232

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.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 232-240

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_012.png
   :alt: tight layout guide
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_012.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_012_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 241-245

Use with AxesGrid1
==================

While limited, :mod:`mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1` is also supported.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 245-260

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_013.png
   :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_013.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_013_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 261-267

Colorbar
========

If you create a colorbar with `.Figure.colorbar`, the created colorbar is
drawn in a Subplot as long as the parent axes is also a Subplot, so
`.Figure.tight_layout` will work.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 267-277

.. 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)

    plt.tight_layout()




.. image-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_014.png
   :alt: tight layout guide
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_014.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_014_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 278-280

Another option is to use the AxesGrid1 toolkit to
explicitly create an axes for the colorbar.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 280-293

.. 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-sg:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_015.png
   :alt: tight layout guide
   :srcset: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_015.png, /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_015_2_0x.png 2.0x
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img






.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-timing

   **Total running time of the script:** ( 0 minutes  2.220 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 sphx-glr-download-python

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



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


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

    Keywords: matplotlib code example, codex, python plot, pyplot
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