Python customised title and legend in figure

Question

I am trying to show a legend near the top of my figure (like this) and a title above that (like this)

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.arange(1,24,1)
y = np.array([400,650,1020,1300,1600,1950,2200,2550,2850,3150,3400,3550,3800,3950,4050,4150,4210,4250,4300,4320,4310,4300,4200])

fig = plt.figure()
ax = plt.subplot(111)

ax.plot(x,y,'o', label='data set 1')
plt.text(0.5, 1.4, 'Data set A-1', 
        horizontalalignment='center', 
        fontsize=16,
        transform = ax.transAxes)
ax.set_xlabel('x', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylabel('y', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylim(ymax=5000)

ax.legend(loc='upper center', bbox_to_anchor=(0.5, 1.25),
          ncol=3, fancybox=True, shadow=True)
#plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

fig.savefig('test.pdf')

However, when I save this graph, both the title and legend are missing. Only the axes and datapoints are saved in the pdf.

Python 2.7.7, Spyder 2.3.0 (but it's got nothing to do with Spyder) — Medulla Oblongata, Sep 09 '14 at 00:37
They are *too* far above and just not in the figure's view. Try resizing the figure to be small and they start to show up... — Ajean, Sep 09 '14 at 00:39
If you change the 1.4 to 1.1 and the 1.25 to 1.05 you will see them. — Ajean, Sep 09 '14 at 00:42
@Agean The title in test.pdf is (horizontally) chopped in half. But if 1.4->1.05 and 1.25->1.05 and `fontsize=14`, then it's OK... — Medulla Oblongata, Sep 09 '14 at 01:42

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 09 '14 at 01:49

You are moving them out of the visible area. If you use set_title mpl will take care it's placement for you. Same with the bounding box on the legend:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.arange(1,24,1)
y = np.array([400,650,1020,1300,1600,1950,2200,2550,2850,3150,3400,3550,3800,3950,4050,4150,4210,4250,4300,4320,4310,4300,4200])

fig = plt.figure()
ax = plt.subplot(111)

ax.plot(x,y,'o', label='data set 1')
ax.set_title('Data set A-1')

ax.set_xlabel('x', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylabel('y', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylim(ymax=5000)

ax.legend(loc='upper center', 
          ncol=3, fancybox=True, shadow=True)
#plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

enter image description here

You probably also want to pass num_points=1 as a kwarg to legend.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 09 '14 at 04:55

Do You want the legend be on axes also?

enter image description here

#!/usr/bin/python3

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.arange(1,24,1)
y = np.array([400,650,1020,1300,1600,1950,2200,2550,
              2850,3150,3400,3550,3800,3950,4050,4150,
              4210,4250,4300,4320,4310,4300,4200])

fig = plt.figure()
ax = plt.subplot(111)

ax.plot(x,y,'o', label='data set 1')

ax.set_xlabel('x', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylabel('y', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylim(ymax=5000)


ax.legend(loc='upper center', bbox_to_anchor=(0.5, 1.05),
          ncol=3, fancybox=True, shadow=True)
title = ax.set_title('Data set A-1')

fig.tight_layout()

fig.subplots_adjust(top=0.85)
title.set_y(1.07)

fig.savefig("13.png")

Python customised title and legend in figure

2 Answers2