How to Create Different Subplot Sizes in Matplotlib?

In this article, we will learn different ways to create subplots of different sizes using Matplotlib. It provides 3 different methods using which we can create different subplots of different sizes.

Methods available to create subplot: 

• Gridspec
• gridspec_kw
• subplot2grid

Create Different Subplot Sizes in Matplotlib using Gridspec

The GridSpec from the gridspec module is used to adjust the geometry of the Subplot grid. We can use different parameters to adjust the shape, size, and number of columns and rows.

gridspec.GridSpec(ncols=2, nrows=2, width_ratios=[2, 1],wspace=0.5,hspace=0.5,height_ratios=[1,2])

Python3

# importing required libraries
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib import gridspec
import numpy as np

# create a figure
fig = plt.figure()

# to change size of subplot's
# set height of each subplot as 8
fig.set_figheight(8)

# set width of each subplot as 8
fig.set_figwidth(8)

# create grid for different subplots
spec = gridspec.GridSpec(ncols=2, nrows=2,
                         width_ratios=[2, 1], wspace=0.5,
                         hspace=0.5, height_ratios=[1, 2])

# initializing x,y axis value
x = np.arange(0, 10, 0.1)
y = np.cos(x)

# ax0 will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots),
# as we defined the position as "spec[0]"
ax0 = fig.add_subplot(spec[0])
ax0.plot(x, y)

# ax1 will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots),
# as we defined the position as "spec[1]"
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(spec[1])
ax1.plot(x, y)

# ax2 will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots),
# as we defined the position as "spec[2]"
ax2 = fig.add_subplot(spec[2])
ax2.plot(x, y)

# ax3 will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots),
# as we defined the position as "spec[3]"
ax3 = fig.add_subplot(spec[3])
ax3.plot(x, y)

# display the plots
plt.show()

Output: 

Create Different Subplot Sizes in Matplotlib gridspec_kw

It is a dictionary available inside “plt.subplots()” method in Matplotlib. By passing different parameters to the dictionary we can adjust the shape and size of each subplot. 

plt.subplots(nrows=2, ncols=2,figsize=(7,7), gridspec_kw={‘width_ratios’: [3, 3], ‘height_ratios’: [3, 3], ‘wspace’ : 0.4, ‘hspace’ : 0.4})

Code : 

Python3

# importing required libraries
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

# setting different parameters to adjust each grid
fig, ax = plt.subplots(nrows=2, ncols=2, figsize=(7, 7),
                       gridspec_kw={
                           'width_ratios': [3, 3],
                           'height_ratios': [3, 3],
                       'wspace': 0.4,
                       'hspace': 0.4})


# initializing x,y axis value
x = np.arange(0, 10, 0.1)
y = np.tan(x)

# ax[0][0] will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots)
ax[0][0].plot(x, y)

# ax[0][0] will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots)
ax[0][1].plot(x, y)

# ax[0][0] will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots)
ax[1][0].plot(x, y)

# ax[0][0] will take 0th position in
# geometry(Grid we created for subplots)
ax[1][1].plot(x, y)

plt.show()

Output : 

Create Different Subplot Sizes in Matplotlib subplot2grid

It provides more flexibility to create a grid at any location. We can extend the grid horizontally as well as vertically very easily. Here shape is denoting to no. of rows and columns and loc denotes the geometric location of the grid. Whereas, colspan = 3 in ax1, it means this subplot will cover 3 of all columns of that row. If we give irregular input then it will give an error so we have given the proper value to colspan and rowspan.

plt.subplot2grid(shape=(3, 3), loc=(0, 0), colspan=3)

Python3

# importing required library
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

# creating grid for subplots
fig = plt.figure()
fig.set_figheight(6)
fig.set_figwidth(6)

ax1 = plt.subplot2grid(shape=(3, 3), loc=(0, 0), colspan=3)
ax2 = plt.subplot2grid(shape=(3, 3), loc=(1, 0), colspan=1)
ax3 = plt.subplot2grid(shape=(3, 3), loc=(1, 2), rowspan=2)
ax4 = plt.subplot2grid((3, 3), (2, 0))
ax5 = plt.subplot2grid((3, 3), (2, 1), colspan=1)


# initializing x,y axis value
x = np.arange(0, 10, 0.1)
y = np.cos(x)

# plotting subplots
ax1.plot(x, y)
ax1.set_title('ax1')
ax2.plot(x, y)
ax2.set_title('ax2')
ax3.plot(x, y)
ax3.set_title('ax3')
ax4.plot(x, y)
ax4.set_title('ax4')
ax5.plot(x, y)
ax5.set_title('ax5')

# automatically adjust padding horizontally
# as well as vertically.
plt.tight_layout()

# display plot
plt.show()

Output :