getting error when plotting with matplotlib

Question

I am trying to plot using matplotlib with python 3.7.

This is my code:

import matplotlib
fig = matplotlib.pyplot.figure()
rect = fig.patch
rect.set_facecolor("green")
x = [3, 7, 8, 12]
y = [5, 13, 2, 8]
graph1 = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, axisbg="black")
graph1.plot(x, y, "red", linewidth=4.0)
matplotlib.pyplot.show()

But I keep getting this error:

File "C:\Users\User\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\axes\_subplots.py", line 72, in __init__
  raise ValueError('Illegal argument(s) to subplot: %s' % (args,))

ValueError: Illegal argument(s) to subplot: (1, 1)

What is the problem?

Relevant, but not duplicate: stackoverflow.com/q/3584805/2988730 — Mad Physicist
– Mad Physicist, Commented Aug 24, 2018 at 10:49
You can replace fig.add_subplot(1,1,axisbg="black") with fig.add_subplot(111,axisbg="black"). — explorer
– explorer, Commented Aug 24, 2018 at 10:52

Mad Physicist · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-24 11:10:43Z

2

The problem is that add_subplot has three mandatory arguments, not two. The arguments are M = "number of rows", N = "number of columns", and P = "item selection". The last one (P) is the linear index in the MxN grid, going across.

Additionally, the axis_bg and axis_bgcolor arguments were deprecated in matplotlib 2.0.0 and removed in matplotlib 2.2.0. Instead, use facecolor or fc for short.

You probably wanted to do

graph1 = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, 1, fc="black")

That being said, if you want to create a single set of axes on a figure, I have generally found it easier to use plt.subplots to make the figure and axes in one shot:

fig, graph1 = plt.subplots(subplot_kw={'facecolor': 'black'}, facecolor='green')

For convenience, it is most common to import pyplot as plt, either with

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

or with

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

All combined, your code could end up looking like this:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

fig, graph1 = plt.subplots(subplot_kw={'facecolor': 'black'},
                           facecolor='green')

x = [3, 7, 8, 12]
y = [5, 13, 2, 8]
graph1.plot(x, y, "red", linewidth=4.0)
plt.show()

edited Aug 24, 2018 at 11:10

answered Aug 24, 2018 at 10:48

Mad Physicist

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3 Comments

Eliza Romanski Over a year ago

it gives me now the eror :Unknown property axisbg

Mad Physicist Over a year ago

@ElizaRomanski. The axis_bg axis_bgcolor were deprecated in matplotlib 2.0.0 and removed in matplotlib 2.2.0. Will update momentarily.

Chillie Over a year ago

@ElizaRomanski because it only accepts only certain keyword arguments, as per docs: **kwargs This method also takes the keyword arguments for Axes.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

0

from matplotlib docs:

add_subplot(*args, **kwargs)[source]

Add a subplot.

Call signatures:

add_subplot(nrows, ncols, index, **kwargs)

add_subplot(pos, **kwargs)

As far as I can tell you are not providing the index argument to the function.

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

CommunityBot

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answered Aug 24, 2018 at 10:47

Chillie

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