Remove seaborn lineplot legend title

Question

I would like to remove the title from my seaborn lineplot legend. I tried using this answer to no avail:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns; sns.set()
fmri = sns.load_dataset("fmri")
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
g = sns.lineplot(x="timepoint", y="signal", hue="event", data=fmri, ax=ax)
ax.legend().set_title('')

I get the same if I try to set the title to None. Interestingly, setting the title to something else seems to prepend to the existing title:

ax.legend().set_title('Something else')

It almost looks like seaborn is treating the title as a hidden legend entry. How can I resolve this?

Answer 1

Indeed, seaborn is misusing a legend label as a (subgroup-)title. Hence the idea can be to either remove this label, or replace it with custom text.

Replacing with custom text:

legend = ax.legend()
legend.texts[0].set_text("Whatever else")

Removing the label:

handles, labels = ax.get_legend_handles_labels()
ax.legend(handles=handles[1:], labels=labels[1:])

After having removed the label you may of course still set another (real) title:

handles, labels = ax.get_legend_handles_labels()
ax.legend(handles=handles[1:], labels=labels[1:], title="Whatever else")

Answer 2

Extending ImportanceOfBeingErnest answer:

I had the same problem, but the 'Removing the label' example removed the title and first item from the actual legend.

handles, labels = ax.get_legend_handles_labels() ax.legend(handles=handles[1:], labels=labels[1:])

So this removes just the legend title

ax.legend(handles=handles[0:], labels=labels[0:])

(I can't comment so adding this as answer)