Update subplots in Matplotlib figure that is already open

Question

I have a matplotlib window with multiple subplots in it. I want to be able to dynamically update the contents of each subplot whenever a method is called. The simplified code looks like this:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np fig = plt.figure(1) fig, ax_list = plt.subplots(3, 2) image1 = plt.imread("image1.jpg") image2 = plt.imread("image2.jpg") ax_list = ax_list.ravel() ax_list[0].imshow(image1) ax_list[1].imshow(image2) plt.show() def update_subplots(): # I want this method to change the contents of the subplots whenever it is called pass

So you mean to say that you want to update the subplots in a window that is already open? — Srivatsan
– Srivatsan, Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 10:52
@tom As in change the image that each subplot displays. In the example code, subplot 1 displays image1, I want to be able to change it so that subplot1 displays image2 for example when update_subplots() is called. — user3396592
– user3396592, Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 11:14
Can't you just do that with: ax_list[0].cla(); ax_list[0].imshow(image2), etc.? — tmdavison
– tmdavison, Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 11:18
The problem is that I want to do it from another method so ax_list won't be accessible, can't seem to find a getter method for it the documentation. — user3396592
– user3396592, Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 11:21

user3396592 · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-29 08:54:35Z

I've managed to figure out how to get this working- it's not very clean but it gets the job done.

We can set the figure to a global variable like so:

fig, ax_list = plt.subplots(4, 2)

We can then modify the contents of the subplots from any method like so:

def update_subplot(image): global fig, ax_list ax_list = ax_list.ravel() # ax_list[0] refers to the first subplot ax_list[0].imshow(image) plt.draw()

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