8000 [MNT]: Define Axes.clear semantics · Issue #28851 · matplotlib/matplotlib · GitHub
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timhoffm opened this issue Sep 20, 2024 · 1 comment
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[MNT]: Define Axes.clear semantics #28851

timhoffm opened this issue Sep 20, 2024 · 1 comment
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@timhoffm
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timhoffm commented Sep 20, 2024 •
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Summary

Axes.clear() / Axes.cla() are only documented as "Clear the Axes". What exactly "clear" means is neither documented nor well defined. We reset some stuff and keep other.

This leads to a number of issues:

There has been some inital work in #23839, but the topic is not completely solved.

Proposed fix

We need to define what clear means.

First on an abstract level: This could be a starting point:

  • All data-like content should be removed (actual data, labels, etc.)
  • Layout should stay (axes position, twinning)
  • Formatting: t.b.d.

When the high-level definition is agreed upon, we need to define what that means for concrete cases.
e.g. it's clear that we remove label content. Should label positions also be reset (e.g. if somebody has moved the xlabel to top)? - This may also depend on the anticipated use case: One wants to reuse the Axes for a new plot. How similar is it to the old plot. Does it only get new data and labels or could it be a completely different plot?
@timhoffm timhoffm mentioned this issue Sep 20, 2024
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@anntzer
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anntzer commented Sep 24, 2024 •
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Also related to #12819 / #23503 ("Should clearing a shared axes reset its scale?")

In fact, thinking about this again, I suspect that "having a consistent behavior when only one of a shared axes is cleared" would more or less impose some choices:

  • clearing should not reset the scale (because the shared axes should keep its scale).
  • clearing should not reset the limits (because the shared axes should keep its limits).

However! this causes other problems, namely that after clearing, the cached data limits become completely wrong. I would guess the "proper" fix there would be the "lazy datalims" idea floated at #28101 (comment).

@timhoffm timhoffm mentioned this issue Sep 30, 2024
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dberardi99 added a commit to dberardi99/matplotlib that referenced this issue Oct 6, 2024
@dberardi99
Add test.py to test the various issues linked to the matplotlib#28268 …
b907236 
…(see matplotlib#28846, matplotlib#28851, matplotlib#28101, matplotlib#23839)
@timhoffm timhoffm mentioned this issue Oct 14, 2024
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@gabisoaresm gabisoaresm mentioned this issue Nov 10, 2024
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Modify Axes.clear() to remove data while preserving layout and formatting
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