I am learning how to use subplots. For example:
import numpy
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.figure(1)
plt.subplot(221)
plt.subplot(222)
plt.subplot(223)
plt.show()
plt.close(1)
I am getting 3 subplots in figure1
Now I want to make a large subplot with the other subplots within the first one. I tried:
plt.figure(1)
plt.subplot(111)
plt.subplot(222)
plt.subplot(223)
But the first subplot disappears.
My question: is it possible to overlap subplots?
thank you
If you want a total control of the subplots size and position, use Matplotlib add_axes method instead.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(6, 4))
ax1 = fig.add_axes([0.1, 0.1, 0.85, 0.85])
ax2 = fig.add_axes([0.4, 0.6, 0.45, 0.3])
ax3 = fig.add_axes([0.6, 0.2, 0.2, 0.65])
ax1.text(0.01, 0.95, "ax1", size=12)
ax2.text(0.05, 0.8, "ax2", size=12)
ax3.text(0.05, 0.9, "ax3", size=12)
plt.show()
You can use mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.inset_locator.inset_axes to create an inset axes on an existing figure.
I added a print statement at the end which shows a list of two axes.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.inset_locator as mpl_il
plt.plot()
ax2 = mpl_il.inset_axes(plt.gca(), width='60%', height='40%', loc=6)
ax2.plot()
print(plt.gcf().get_axes())
plt.show()
It's not possible to use plt.subplots() to create overlapping subplots. Also, plt.subplot2grid will not work.
However, you can create them using the figure.add_subplot() method.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig = plt.figure(1)
fig.add_subplot(111)
fig.add_subplot(222)
fig.add_subplot(223)
plt.show()
add_subplot creates an axes according to some grid. The advantange is that the grid may later be modified and the axes sticks to it, e.g. one can call plt.tight_layout() or plt.subplots_adjust. In contrast add_axes puts the axes at the position specfied. It will then stay where it is. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the case.