Why I get additional empty plot in matplotlib?

Question

I have the following code in my IPython notebook:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.setp(plt.xticks()[1], rotation=45)
plt.figure(figsize=(17, 10)) # <--- This is the problematic line!!!!!!!!!!!!!
plt.plot_date(df['date'],df['x'], color='black', linestyle='-')
plt.plot_date(df['date'],df['y'], color='red', linestyle='-')
plt.plot_date(df['date'],df['z'], color='green', linestyle='-')

In the above example df is pandas data frame.

Without the marked line (containig figsize) the plot is too small. With the mentioned line I have an increased image as I want but before it I have an additional empty plot.

Does anybody know why it happens an how this problem can be resolved?

See stackoverflow.com/questions/14254379/… for a ramble about the state machine vs OO interfaces to mpl — tacaswell
– tacaswell, Commented Jul 24, 2013 at 18:05

Molly · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-24 16:30:06Z

4

Try reversing the first two lines after the import. plt.setp is opening a figure.

answered Jul 24, 2013 at 16:30

Molly

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Paul H · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-25 21:09:00Z

1

here's how I would do this:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(17, 10))
plt.setp(plt.xticks()[1], rotation=45)
ax.plot_date(df['date'],df['x'], color='black', linestyle='-')
ax.plot_date(df['date'],df['y'], color='red', linestyle='-')
ax.plot_date(df['date'],df['z'], color='green', linestyle='-')

It's a good practice to explicitly create and operate on your your Figure and Axes objects.

answered Jul 25, 2013 at 21:09

Paul H

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