Place text inside a circle in Matplotlib

To place text inside a circle in Matplotlib, we can create a Circle patch and use the text() method to position text at the circle's center coordinates.

Steps to Place Text Inside a Circle

• Create a new figure using figure() method

• Add a subplot to the current axis

• Create a Circle instance using Circle() class

• Add the circle patch to the plot

• Use text() method to place text at circle coordinates

• Set axis limits and display the figure

Example

Here's how to create a circle with centered text ?

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.patches as patches

# Set figure size
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.00, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

# Create figure and subplot
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)

# Create a circle at center (0, 0) with radius 1
circle = patches.Circle((0, 0), radius=1, color='yellow', alpha=0.7)
ax.add_patch(circle)

# Place text at the center of the circle
plt.text(0, 0, "Circle Text", ha='center', va='center', fontsize=12, fontweight='bold')

# Set axis limits and make axes equal
plt.xlim([-2, 2])
plt.ylim([-2, 2])
plt.axis('equal')

plt.title("Text Inside Circle")
plt.show()

Multiple Circles with Text

You can create multiple circles with different text positions ?

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.patches as patches

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 6))

# Circle data: (x, y, radius, color, text)
circles_data = [
    (2, 3, 0.8, 'lightblue', 'Blue'),
    (5, 3, 1.0, 'lightcoral', 'Red'),
    (3.5, 1, 0.6, 'lightgreen', 'Green')
]

# Create circles and add text
for x, y, radius, color, text in circles_data:
    circle = patches.Circle((x, y), radius, color=color, alpha=0.7)
    ax.add_patch(circle)
    ax.text(x, y, text, ha='center', va='center', fontsize=10, fontweight='bold')

# Set limits and equal aspect ratio
ax.set_xlim(0, 7)
ax.set_ylim(0, 5)
ax.set_aspect('equal')
ax.set_title('Multiple Circles with Text')

plt.grid(True, alpha=0.3)
plt.show()

Key Parameters

Conclusion

Use patches.Circle() to create circles and text() with ha='center', va='center' to center text perfectly inside circles. Set axis('equal') to maintain circular shape.