Clarify wspace/hspace in documentation/comments

Author: stilley2

doc/faq/howto_faq.rst

@@ -176,9 +176,11 @@ The other parameters you can configure are, with their defaults
 *top* = 0.9
     the top of the subplots of the figure
 *wspace* = 0.2
-    the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots
+    the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots,
+    expressed as a fraction of the average axis width
 *hspace* = 0.2
-    the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots
+    the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots,
+    expressed as a fraction of the average axis height
 
 If you want additional control, you can create an
 :class:`~matplotlib.axes.Axes` using the

lib/matplotlib/figure.py

@@ -182,10 +182,12 @@ def __init__(self, left=None, bottom=None, right=None, top=None,
             The top of the subplots of the figure
 
         *wspace* : 0.2
-            The amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots
+            The amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots,
+            expressed as a fraction of the average axis width
 
         *hspace* : 0.2
-            The amount of height reserved for white space between subplots
+            The amount of height reserved for white space between subplots,
+            expressed as a fraction of the average axis height
         """
 
         self.validate = True

lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/classic.mplstyle

@@ -316,8 +316,10 @@ figure.subplot.left    : 0.125  # the left side of the subplots of the figure
 figure.subplot.right   : 0.9    # the right side of the subplots of the figure
 figure.subplot.bottom  : 0.1    # the bottom of the subplots of the figure
 figure.subplot.top     : 0.9    # the top of the subplots of the figure
-figure.subplot.wspace  : 0.2    # the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots
-figure.subplot.hspace  : 0.2    # the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots
+figure.subplot.wspace  : 0.2    # the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots,
+                                # expressed as a fraction of the average axis width
+figure.subplot.hspace  : 0.2    # the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots,
+                                # expressed as a fraction of the average axis height
 
 ### IMAGES
 image.aspect : equal             # equal | auto | a number

lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py

@@ -1242,8 +1242,10 @@ def subplots_adjust(*args, **kwargs):
       right = 0.9    # the right side of the subplots of the figure
       bottom = 0.1   # the bottom of the subplots of the figure
       top = 0.9      # the top of the subplots of the figure
-      wspace = 0.2   # the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots
-      hspace = 0.2   # the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots
+      wspace = 0.2   # the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots,
+                     # expressed as a fraction of the average axis width
+      hspace = 0.2   # the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots,
+                     # expressed as a fraction of the average axis height
 
     The actual defaults are controlled by the rc file
     """

matplotlibrc.template

@@ -449,8 +449,10 @@ backend      : $TEMPLATE_BACKEND
 #figure.subplot.right   : 0.9    # the right side of the subplots of the figure
 #figure.subplot.bottom  : 0.11    # the bottom of the subplots of the figure
 #figure.subplot.top     : 0.88    # the top of the subplots of the figure
-#figure.subplot.wspace  : 0.2    # the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots
-#figure.subplot.hspace  : 0.2    # the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots
+#figure.subplot.wspace  : 0.2    # the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots,
+                                 # expressed as a fraction of the average axis width
+#figure.subplot.hspace  : 0.2    # the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots,
+                                 # expressed as a fraction of the average axis height
 
 
 ### IMAGES