matplotlib: How to return a matplotlib object then plot as subplot?

Question

I checked this SO Matplotlib returning a plot object but it does not really fit to my question.

What I would like to do is:

def func1():
   fig1 =  plt.plot (np.arange(0.0, 5.0, 0.1))
   return fig1

def func2()
   return plt.plot (np.arange(0.0, 5.0, 0.02))


fig1 = func1()
fig2 = func2()
plt.figure()
plt.add_subplot(fig1)
plt.add_subplot(fig2)
plt.show()

The above code is just a main idea. Could you suggest me how to do?

Thanks

Answer 1

The idea would be to let your functions plot to an axes. Either you provide this axes as argument to the function or you let it take the current axes.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

def func1(ax=None):
    ax = ax or plt.gca()
    line, = ax.plot (np.arange(0.0, 5.0, 0.1))
    return line

def func2(ax=None):
    ax = ax or plt.gca()
    line, = ax.plot (np.arange(0.0, 5.0, 0.02))
    return line


fig, (ax1,ax2) = plt.subplots(ncols=2)
func1(ax1)
func2(ax2)

plt.show()