matplotlib Axes.plot() vs pyplot.plot()

Question

What is the difference between the Axes.plot() and pyplot.plot() methods? Does one use another as a subroutine?

It seems that my options f

Answer 1

For drawing a single plot, the best practice is probably

fig = plt.figure()
plt.plot(data)
fig.show()

Now, lets take a look in to 3 examples from the queston and explain what they do.

1. Takes the current figure and axes (if none exists it will create a new one) and plot into them.

   line = plt.plot(data)
   

2. In your case, the behavior is same as before with explicitly stating the axes for plot.

   ax = plt.axes()
   line = ax.plot(data)
   

   This approach of using ax.plot(...) is a must, if you want to plot into multiple axes (possibly in one figure). For example when using a subplots.

3. Explicitly creates new figure - you will not add anything to previous one. Explicitly creates a new axes with given rectangle shape and the rest is the same as with 2.

   fig = plt.figure()
   ax = fig.add_axes([0,0,1,1])
   line = ax.plot(data)
   

   possible problem using figure.add_axes is that it may add a new axes object to the figure, which will overlay the first one (or others). This happens if the requested size does not match the existing ones.