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Improve legend loc and bbox_to_anchor documentation (#26620) #31422

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timhoffm merged 3 commits into from
Mar 30, 2026
+18 −9
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Improve legend loc and bbox_to_anchor documentation (#26620) #31422

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e55081e
Improve legend loc and bbox_to_anchor documentation (#26620)
amanparganiha Mar 29, 2026
6f4e59c
Update lib/matplotlib/legend.py
amanparganiha Mar 30, 2026
6e053e9
Update lib/matplotlib/legend.py
amanparganiha Mar 30, 2026
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27 changes: 18 additions & 9 deletions lib/matplotlib/legend.py
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -98,9 +98,11 @@ def _update_bbox_to_anchor(self, loc_in_canvas):
_legend_kw_doc_base = """
bbox_to_anchor : `.BboxBase`, 2-tuple, or 4-tuple of floats
Box that is used to position the legend in conjunction with *loc*.
This is an advanced option for free placement of the legend. For
most use cases, *loc* alone is sufficient.

Defaults to ``axes.bbox`` (if called as a method to `.Axes.legend`) or
``figure.bbox`` (if ``figure.legend``). This argument allows arbitrary
placement of the legend.
``figure.bbox`` (if ``figure.legend``).

Bbox coordinates are interpreted in the coordinate system given by
*bbox_transform*, with the default transform
Expand All @@ -119,6 +121,9 @@ def _update_bbox_to_anchor(self, loc_in_canvas):

loc='upper right', bbox_to_anchor=(0.5, 0.5)

For more details on legend positioning, see the
:ref:`legend_guide`.

ncols : int, default: 1
The number of columns that the legend has.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -265,15 +270,19 @@ def _update_bbox_to_anchor(self, loc_in_canvas):
loc : str or pair of floats, default: {default}
The location of the legend.

The strings ``'upper left'``, ``'upper right'``, ``'lower left'``,
``'lower right'`` place the legend at the corresponding corner of the
{parent}.
The string locations place the legend at the corresponding position
within the bounding box, which by default is the full {parent} area.
The bounding box can be changed via *bbox_to_anchor*.

The strings ``'upper center'``, ``'lower center'``, ``'center left'``,
``'center right'`` place the legend at the center of the corresponding edge
of the {parent}.
The positions are visualized below::

The string ``'center'`` places the legend at the center of the {parent}.
+--------------+--------------+---------------+
| 'upper left' |'upper center'| 'upper right' |
+--------------+--------------+---------------+
|'center left' | 'center' |'center right' |
+--------------+--------------+---------------+
| 'lower left' |'lower center'| 'lower right' |
+--------------+--------------+---------------+
{best}
The location can also be a 2-tuple giving the coordinates of the lower-left
corner of the legend in {parent} coordinates (in which case *bbox_to_anchor*
Expand Down
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