Resizing matplotlib figure with set_fig(width/height) doesn't work

Question

For some reason this code creates a figure that is only the standard size: it doesn't change the height or width (I chose widths and heights that are ludicrous to clearly illustrate the problem):

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig = plt.figure()
fig.set_figwidth(30)
fig.set_figheight(1)

print('Width: {}'.format(fig.get_figwidth()))

plt.show()

I'm running on OSX 10.10.4, Python 3.4.3, Matplotlib 1.4.3. (Installed via Macports.) Any ideas? What am I missing?

It looks like fig.set_figsize(30, 1, forward=True) works, but the forward=True keyword argument is necessary. If forward=False, or if left off, it doesn't work. It's a workaround I suppose: I can do fig.set_figsize(fig.get_width(), value) to set only one. But this is a workaround, I'd like to know why it doesn't work. Maybe I should file as a bug? — Joel
– Joel, Commented Aug 5, 2015 at 19:49
@N1B4 Yes, but I want to change the figure size after creation at the time of adding a colorbar. Basically, I want to programmatically expand the window when I create a colorbar so my figure still fits nicely inside the window, and I don't know at figure creation whether I will add a colorbar or not. — Joel
– Joel, Commented Aug 5, 2015 at 19:54
You could set the figure size at the end with fig.set_size_inches(30,1) and replace 30 or 1 with something new if a colorbar is included. Or more dynamically, first determine the figure size (e.g. size = fig.get_size_inches()) and adjust that as needed. — N1B4
– N1B4, Commented Aug 5, 2015 at 19:59

River · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-09 19:19:01Z

7

The optional parameter forward propagates changes to the canvas in a GUI window that already exists.

Documentation here:

optional kwarg forward=True will cause the canvas size to be automatically updated; e.g., you can resize the figure window from the shell

Using Figure(figsize=(w,h)) also works.

For Matplotlib 2.2.0 and newer

forward=True is the default for all three of set_figheight, set_figwidth, and set_size_inches (set_size_inches changes both height and width simultaneously).

For Matplotlib 1.5.0

forward=True must be specified explicitly as it is False by default. (In Matplotlib 2.0.0, the default is changed to True only for set_size_inches).

For Matplotlib 1.4.3 and older

forward is only supported by set_size_inches.

set_figheight and set_figwidth do not support this argument, so it is a bit difficult to only change a single dimension of a pre-created GUI.

edited Mar 9, 2018 at 19:19

answered Aug 5, 2015 at 19:49

River

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Joel · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-05 22:28:37Z

4

I'm not certain why those documented functions don't work, but they have been fixed for the next matplotlib release (>v1.4.3). As a workaround until the next release, replacing set_figwidth and set_figheight solves this problem.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig = plt.figure()
# Instead of set_figwidth(30)
fig.set_size_inches(30, fig.get_figheight(), forward=True)

plt.show()

edited Aug 5, 2015 at 22:28

answered Aug 5, 2015 at 20:12

Joel

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2 Comments

Mohammad Heydari Over a year ago

it doesn't changed for me at all

Prabah Over a year ago

This is what I was looking for, It worked. I adjusted height to meet my requirements as well. fig.set_size_inches(5, 15, forward=True)

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