How to Use of pyplot.figure() in Matplotlib

1. Use matplotlib.pyplot.figure() to Set the Figure Properties
2. Use matplotlib.pyplot.figure() to Add Subplots to a Figure

This tutorial explains how we can use matplotlib.pyplot.figure() to change a Matplotlib figure’s various properties. A matplotlib figure is simply a top-level container of all the axes and properties of a plot. To know more about the details of a Matplotlib figure, you can refer to the official documentation page.

Use matplotlib.pyplot.figure() to Set the Figure Properties

matplotlib.pyplot.figure(num=None,
                         figsize=None,
                         dpi=None,
                         facecolor=None,
                         edgecolor=None,
                         frameon=True,
                         FigureClass= < class 'matplotlib.figure.Figure' > ,
                         clear=False,
                         **kwargs)

We can use the matplotlib.pyplot.figure() to create a new figure and set values of various parameters to customize the plot like figsize, dpi, and much more.

Example: Use matplotlib.pyplot.figure() to Set the Figure Properties

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
y = [4, 3, 5, 6, 7, 4]

plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6), facecolor="yellow")

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xlabel("X")
plt.ylabel("Y")
plt.title("Plot with figsize (8,6)")
plt.show()

Output:

It creates the figure object and sets the figure’s width to 8 inches and the figure’s height to 6 inches. The face color is set to be yellow.

Use matplotlib.pyplot.figure() to Add Subplots to a Figure

The matplotlib.pyplot.figure() returns a figure object which can be used to add subplots to the figure using the add_subplot() method.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
y = [4, 3, 5, 6, 7, 4]

fig = plt.figure()

subplot1 = fig.add_subplot(2, 1, 1)
subplot1.plot(x, y)

subplot2 = fig.add_subplot(2, 1, 2)
subplot2.text(0.3, 0.5, "2nd Subplot")

fig.suptitle("Add subplots to a figure")
plt.show()

Output:

It adds two subplots to the figure object fig created using the matplotlib.pyplot.figure() method.