[FIXED] How to adjust padding with cutoff or overlapping labels

Issue

Updated MRE with subplots

• I'm not sure of the usefulness of the original question and MRE. The margin padding seems to be properly adjusted for large x and y labels.
• The issue is reproducible with subplots.
• Using matplotlib 3.4.2

fig, axes = plt.subplots(ncols=2, nrows=2, figsize=(8, 6))
axes = axes.flatten()

for ax in axes:
    ax.set_ylabel(r'$\ln\left(\frac{x_a-x_b}{x_a-x_c}\right)$')
    ax.set_xlabel(r'$\ln\left(\frac{x_a-x_d}{x_a-x_e}\right)$')

plt.show()

Original

I am plotting a dataset using matplotlib where I have an xlabel that is quite "tall" (it's a formula rendered in TeX that contains a fraction and is therefore has the height equivalent of a couple of lines of text).

In any case, the bottom of the formula is always cut off when I draw the figures. Changing figure size doesn't seem to help this, and I haven't been able to figure out how to shift the x-axis "up" to make room for the xlabel. Something like that would be a reasonable temporary solution, but what would be nice would be to have a way to make matplotlib recognize automatically that the label is cut off and resize accordingly.

Here's an example of what I mean:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.figure()
plt.ylabel(r'$\ln\left(\frac{x_a-x_b}{x_a-x_c}\right)$')
plt.xlabel(r'$\ln\left(\frac{x_a-x_d}{x_a-x_e}\right)$', fontsize=50)
plt.title('Example with matplotlib 3.4.2\nMRE no longer an issue')
plt.show()

The entire ylabel is visible, however, the xlabel is cut off at the bottom.

In the case this is a machine-specific problem, I am running this on OSX 10.6.8 with matplotlib 1.0.0

Solution

Use:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.gcf().subplots_adjust(bottom=0.15)

# alternate option without .gcf
plt.subplots_adjust(bottom=0.15)

to make room for the label, where plt.gcf() means get the current figure. plt.gca(), which gets the current Axes, can also be used.

Edit:

Since I gave the answer, matplotlib has added the plt.tight_layout() function.

See matplotlib Tutorials: Tight Layout Guide

So I suggest using it:

fig, axes = plt.subplots(ncols=2, nrows=2, figsize=(8, 6))
axes = axes.flatten()

for ax in axes:
    ax.set_ylabel(r'$\ln\left(\frac{x_a-x_b}{x_a-x_c}\right)$')
    ax.set_xlabel(r'$\ln\left(\frac{x_a-x_d}{x_a-x_e}\right)$')

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Answered By - tillsten