.. 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.


.. 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:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_001.png
    :alt: Title
    :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 introduced
`.Figure.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
    :alt: Title
    :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 :rc:`figure.autolayout` 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
    :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
    :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
    :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
    :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
    :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
    :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
    :alt: Title, Title, Title
    :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
    :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
    :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
    :alt: tight layout guide
    :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 `.GridSpec.tight_layout` method (the pyplot api
`.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
    :alt: Title, Title
    :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
    :alt: Title, Title
    :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
    :alt: Title, Title
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img


.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-script-out

 Out:

 .. code-block:: none

    /mpl_source/tutorials/intermediate/tight_layout_guide.py:228: UserWarning: This figure includes Axes that are not compatible with tight_layout, so results might be incorrect.
      gs2.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0.5, 0, 1, 1], h_pad=0.5)




While this should be mostly good enough, adjusting top and bottom may
require adjustment of hspace also.  To update hspace & vspace, we call
`.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
    :alt: Title, Title
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img


.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-script-out

 Out:

 .. code-block:: none

    /mpl_source/tutorials/intermediate/tight_layout_guide.py:268: UserWarning: This figure includes Axes that are not compatible with tight_layout, so results might be incorrect.
      gs2.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0.5, 0, 1, 1], h_pad=0.5)
    /mpl_source/tutorials/intermediate/tight_layout_guide.py:279: UserWarning: This figure includes Axes that are not compatible with tight_layout, so results might be incorrect.
      gs1.tight_layout(fig, rect=[None, 0 + (bottom-gs1.bottom),
    /mpl_source/tutorials/intermediate/tight_layout_guide.py:281: UserWarning: This figure includes Axes that are not compatible with tight_layout, so results might be incorrect.
      gs2.tight_layout(fig, rect=[0.5, 0 + (bottom-gs2.bottom),




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:


.. 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
    :alt: tight layout guide
    :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
    :alt: tight layout guide
    :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
    :alt: Title, Title, Title, Title
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





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.


.. 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:: /tutorials/intermediate/images/sphx_glr_tight_layout_guide_016.png
    :alt: tight layout guide
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





Another option is to use the AxesGrid1 toolkit to
explicitly create an axes for the 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
    :alt: tight layout guide
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img






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

   **Total running time of the script:** ( 0 minutes  8.258 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>`



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

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