Square plots

[holocronweaver]

When using pyplot, I can use axis('equal') to make the axes have the same scale (a circle is a circle). However, this leaves a hole for the common case of comparing experiment with theory where a square plot is desired (i.e., the axes should have the same limits).

To achieve this, I typically write a function:

def equalAxisLimits(ax):
    '''
    Make both axes have the same range. Useful for producing square plots.
    '''
    xlim = ax.get_xlim()
    ylim = ax.get_ylim()
    minLimit = min(xlim[0], ylim[0])
    maxLimit = max(xlim[1], ylim[1])
    ax.axis([minLimit, maxLimit] * 2)

Ideally something like this would be built into matplotlib. Maybe it already is and I missed it? If not, it would be a handy addition. Beats having everyone copy/paste the wheel - I must have seen it implemented over a hundred times.

[WeatherGod]

the set_aspect() method has the "adjustable" parameter that allows values
of "box", "datalim", and "box-forced". I think you want "box" with "equal".

Cheers!
Ben Root

On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 4:16 PM, Jesse Johnson notifications@github.com
wrote:

When using pyplot, I can use axis('equal') to make the axes have the same
scale (a circle is a circle). However, this leaves a hole for the common
case of comparing experiment with theory where a square plot is desired
(i.e., the axes should have the same limits).

To achieve this, I typically write a function:

def equalAxisLimits(ax):
'''
Make both axes have the same range. Useful for producing square plots.
'''
xlim = ax.get_xlim()
ylim = ax.get_ylim()
minLimit = min(xlim[0], ylim[0])
maxLimit = max(xlim[1], ylim[1])
ax.axis([minLimit, maxLimit] * 2)

Ideally something like this would be built into matplotlib. Maybe it
already is and I missed it? If not, it would be a handy addition. Beats
having everyone copy/paste the wheel - I must have seen it implemented over
a hundred times.

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#3742.

[efiring]

No, he is asking for a way to automatically make the X and Y data limits the same, so that with adjustable 'box' and aspect 'equal', the result would be a square with identical min/max values for X and Y.

[holocronweaver]

Yes, what @efiring said. 😄

[WeatherGod]

Ah, I should have read the code example. So really, this isn't so much an
aspect issue as much as an autoscaling issue. Perhaps it would make sense
to add some sort of feature analogous to sharex/sharey, but for inter-axes
sharing rather than intra-axes sharing? Would have to be careful with
handling panning, but would be killer for zooming.

On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 5:57 PM, Jesse Johnson notifications@github.com
wrote:

Yes, what @efiring https://github.com/efiring said. [image: 😄]

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#3742 (comment)
.

[tacaswell]

Closed by #4310