MNT: use a property rather than assignment to manage alias

tacaswell · tacaswell · commit 4e677b15ff88 · 2022-03-31T16:13:34.000-04:00
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
@@ -949,13 +949,16 @@ def clear(self, keep_observers=False):
 
         self.stale = True
 
-    # synonym for `clear`.
-    clf = clear
+    # synonym for `clear`.  We do this with a property to make sure that we get
+    # a literal alias that correctly behaves for sub-classes (without resorting
+    # to __subclass_init__ or other meta-programming tools.
+    @property
+    def clf(self):
+        return self.clear
 
     # Note: in the docstring below, the newlines in the examples after the
     # calls to legend() allow replacing it with figlegend() to generate the
     # docstring of pyplot.figlegend.
-
     @_docstring.dedent_interpd
     def legend(self, *args, **kwargs):
         """
@@ -2848,9 +2851,6 @@ def clear(self, keep_observers=False):
         if toolbar is not None:
             toolbar.update()
 
-    # synonym for `clear`.
-    clf = clear
-
     @_finalize_rasterization
     @allow_rasterization
     def draw(self, renderer):
