plt.subplots return is inconsistent

[KeithWM]

This is not a bug, but a feature that I contend is implemented incorrectly.

When generating multiple subplots using fig, ax = plt.subplots(nrows, ncols) the returned 'axes' object(s) depend inconveniently on the number of rows and columns specified. Currently, the axes object is either a single object, a vector ax[i] or a matrix ax[i,j]. If the number of rows and/or columns is dynamically specified, this leads to convoluted programming to catch the different cases.

I believe it would be much more straightforward if it always returned an array of axes objects. If it can not be made the default, can it at least be added as a possibility via a keyword argument?

If this issue has been raised before, I apologise.

[jenshnielsen]

I think the squeeze kwarg should do exactly what you want? See http://matplotlib.org/api/pyplot_api.html?highlight=subplots#matplotlib.pyplot.subplots

[WeatherGod]

There is:

    squeeze : bool, optional, default: True
        - If True, extra dimensions are squeezed out from the returned Axes
          object:
    
            - if only one subplot is constructed (nrows=ncols=1), the
              resulting single Axes object is returned as a scalar.
            - for Nx1 or 1xN subplots, the returned object is a 1D numpy
              object array of Axes objects are returned as numpy 1D arrays.
            - for NxM, subplots with N>1 and M>1 are returned as a 2D arrays.
    
        - If False, no squeezing at all is done: the returned Axes object is
          always a 2D array containing Axes instances, even if it ends up
          being 1x1.

[WeatherGod]

Closing as the requested feature already exists.

[KeithWM]

Thanks for the quick response!