Reduce left and right margins in matplotlib plot

One way to automatically do this is the bbox_inches='tight' kwarg to plt.savefig.

E.g.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
data = np.arange(3000).reshape((100,30))
plt.imshow(data)
plt.savefig('test.png', bbox_inches='tight')

Another way is to use fig.tight_layout()

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

xs = np.linspace(0, 1, 20); ys = np.sin(xs)

fig = plt.figure()
axes = fig.add_subplot(1,1,1)
axes.plot(xs, ys)

# This should be called after all axes have been added
fig.tight_layout()
fig.savefig('test.png')

You can adjust the spacing around matplotlib figures using the subplots_adjust() function:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.plot(whatever)
plt.subplots_adjust(left=0.1, right=0.9, top=0.9, bottom=0.1)

This will work for both the figure on screen and saved to a file, and it is the right function to call even if you don't have multiple plots on the one figure.

The numbers are fractions of the figure dimensions, and will need to be adjusted to allow for the figure labels.

All you need is

plt.tight_layout()

before your output.

In addition to cutting down the margins, this also tightly groups the space between any subplots:

x = [1,2,3]
y = [1,4,9]
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig = plt.figure()
subplot1 = fig.add_subplot(121)
subplot1.plot(x,y)
subplot2 = fig.add_subplot(122)
subplot2.plot(y,x)
fig.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Just use ax = fig.add_axes([left, bottom, width, height]) if you want exact control of the figure layout. eg.

left = 0.05
bottom = 0.05
width = 0.9
height = 0.9
ax = fig.add_axes([left, bottom, width, height])