Repository navigation
tight_layout + lots of subplots + long ylabels inverts yaxis #8062
Description
When plotting a lot of subplots (here 6), with long y-labels and tight_layout, the y-axis is reverted.
In this example, it is particularly striking as I am plotting histograms.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
alphas = [0.001, 0.1, 1, 10, 1000, 10000]
X = np.random.randn(len(alphas), 1000)
fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrows=len(alphas), ncols=2)
fig.set_tight_layout(True)
for i, alpha in enumerate(alphas):
ax = axes[i, 0]
ax.hist(X[i])
ax.set_xlabel("Number of features", fontweight="bold")
ax.set_ylabel("Number of genes", fontweight="bold")
ax = axes[i, 1]
ax.plot(sorted(X[i]))
ax.set_ylabel("Number of genes", fontweight="bold")
Expected outcome
Removing the tight layout, the labels collapse, but at least the plots are oriented the correct way.
Matplotlib should either raise a proper error raise a proper warning, or plot the histograms in the proper order.
Matplotlib version
Matplotlib 2.0.0
Activity
[-]tight_layout + lots of subplots + long ylabels reverts yaxis[/-][+]tight_layout + lots of subplots + long ylabels inverts yaxis[/+]anntzer commentedon Feb 10, 2017
Something like
(and likewise for vspace) "fixes" the issue but the subplots are still tiny and squished (fundamentally there's just not enough space) so as @NelleV suggested an error may be better.
(it's
max(..., 0.01)and notmax(..., 0)because matplotlib unsurprisingly doesn't like zero-sized axes...)amyspark commentedon Mar 30, 2018
I've stumbled onto this when plotting a 3x7 gridded figure in A4 paper. Has this been pushed?
(Matplotlib 2.2.2)
QuLogic commentedon Mar 30, 2018
@jklymak this looks like #4413 on the opposite axis.
ImportanceOfBeingErnest commentedon Mar 30, 2018
@amyspark This happens if the title or the axes labels are too long. There is (and probably will be) no fix for this - mainly because there is no canonical action to take here; if the elements in the figure are too large, they are too large. (However in future versions, a warning will be emitted in such cases, see #10915)
You need to decide for yourself what outcome you wish to have. Either make sure the labels or title are short enough not to overlap the axes by using a smaller fontsize or wrapping the text. Or, if you need those long labels, call tight layout before setting the long text to labels.
QuLogic commentedon Apr 7, 2018
Closed by #10915.