ENH: add get_gridspec convenience method to subplots

jklymak · jklymak · commit 18d20e556ef9 · 2018-06-14T13:29:27.000-07:00
diff --git a/doc/users/next_whats_new/subplot_get_gridspec.rst b/doc/users/next_whats_new/subplot_get_gridspec.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Add ``ax.get_gridspec`` to `.SubplotBase`
+-----------------------------------------
+
+New method `.SubplotBase.get_gridspec` is added so that users can
+easily get the gridspec that went into making as axes:
+
+  .. code::
+
+    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
+    fig, axs = plt.subplots(3, 2)
+    gs = axs[0, -1].get_gridspec()
+
+    # remove the last column
+    for ax in axs[:,-1].flatten():
+      ax.remove()
+
+    # make a subplot in last column that spans rows.
+    ax = fig.add_subplot(gs[:, -1])
+    plt.show()
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_subplots.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_subplots.py
@@ -117,6 +117,10 @@ def set_subplotspec(self, subplotspec):
         """set the SubplotSpec instance associated with the subplot"""
         self._subplotspec = subplotspec
 
+    def get_gridspec(self):
+        """get the GridSpec instance associated with the subplot"""
+        return self._subplotspec.get_gridspec()
+
     def update_params(self):
         """update the subplot position from fig.subplotpars"""
 
