Matplotlib: Repositioning a subplot in a grid of subplots

Question

I am trying to make a plot with 7 subplots. At the moment I am plotting two columns, one with four plots and the other with three, i.e. like this:

Answer 1

Use grid spec (doc) with a 4x4 grid, and have each plot span 2 columns as such:

import matplotlib.gridspec as gridspec
gs = gridspec.GridSpec(4, 4)
ax1 = plt.subplot(gs[0, 0:2])
ax2 = plt.subplot(gs[0,2:])
ax3 = plt.subplot(gs[1,0:2])
ax4 = plt.subplot(gs[1,2:])
ax5 = plt.subplot(gs[2,0:2])
ax6 = plt.subplot(gs[2,2:])
ax7 = plt.subplot(gs[3,1:3])
fig = gcf()
gs.tight_layout(fig)
ax_lst = [ax1,ax2,ax3,ax4,ax5,ax6,ax7]

Answer 2

If you want to keep the for loop, you can arrange your plots with subplot2grid, which allows for a colspan parameter:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.random.rand(20)
y = np.random.rand(20)
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(6.5,12))
plt.subplots_adjust(wspace=0.2,hspace=0.2)
iplot = 420
for i in range(7):
    iplot += 1
    if i == 6:
        ax = plt.subplot2grid((4,8), (i//2, 2), colspan=4)
    else:
        # You can be fancy and use subplot2grid for each plot, which doesn't
        # require keeping the iplot variable:
        # ax = plt.subplot2grid((4,2), (i//2,i%2))

        # Or you can keep using add_subplot, which may be simpler:
        ax = fig.add_subplot(iplot)
    ax.plot(x,y,'ko')
    ax.set_xlabel("x")
    ax.set_ylabel("y")
plt.savefig("subplots_example.png",bbox_inches='tight')