{"id":3660,"date":"2012-06-08T09:58:40","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T14:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/?p=3660"},"modified":"2022-05-31T08:50:53","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T12:50:53","slug":"customize-the-spacing-of-subplots-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/2012\/06\/08\/customize-the-spacing-of-subplots-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Customize the spacing of subplots"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n <\/introduction>\r\n

Brett<\/a>'s Pick this week is the Tight Subplot,<\/a> by Pekka Kumpulainen<\/a>.\r\n <\/p>\r\n

Judging from the title of the submission, Pekka wrote and shared \"Tight Subplot\" because he was dissatisfied with the large\r\n (default) gaps between axes generated with the subplot<\/a> command. Fair enough (though with a bit of effort, one can customize the position of subplots). But what I really like about\r\n \"Tight Subplot\" is not that the default axes spacing makes better use of the figure's real estate, but that it gives me complete--and\r\n easy--control over horizontal and vertical gap spacing, and separately, of left-and-right and top-and-bottom margin spacing.\r\n The syntax is easy to use:\r\n <\/p>

% ha = tight_subplot(Nh, Nw, gap, marg_h, marg_w)<\/span><\/pre>
allows me to specify the number of horizontal axes, the number of vertical axes, the gap as a scalar (or as a vector of horizontal\r\n      and vertical gap values, [gap_h gap_w]), and the height and width margins. And, of course, it conveniently returns a vector\r\n      of handles to the axes.\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   
By default, the axes spacing is tighter than subplot<\/tt>'s:\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   
tight_subplot(2,2);<\/tt><\/p>\r\n   
yields<\/p>\r\n   
 <\/p>\r\n   
Compare that to:<\/p>
figure\r\nfor<\/span> ii = 1:4\r\n    subplot(2,2,ii);\r\nend<\/span><\/pre>
 <\/p>\r\n   
and you can clearly see how the function got its name.<\/p>\r\n   
Better still, ask tight_subplot for custom spacing:<\/p>
figure;\r\nha = tight_subplot(2,2,[0.05 0.025],0.05,[0.3 0.05]);<\/pre>
creates a 2x2 array of axes with a normalized horizontal gap of 0.05; a vertical gap of 0.025; an equal height margin (top\r\n      and bottom) of 0.05; and unequal width margins--0.3 on the left, and 0.05 on the right.\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   
 <\/p>\r\n   
Pekka's function affords great control beyond just making a tight array of subplots. Thanks for sharing it, Pekka! And thanks\r\n      (again!) to Frank Engel<\/a> for the nomination. Swag on the way to both of you!\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   
Please continue to steer us to your favorite File Exchange submissions<\/a> ...we'll continue to consider your recommendations for Pick-of-the-Week recognition!\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   
As always, comments to this blog post<\/a> are welcome. Or leave a comment for Pekka here<\/a>.\r\n   <\/p>