How to put text outside Python plots?

To put text outside a Python plot, you can control the text position by adjusting coordinates and using the transform parameter. The transform parameter determines the coordinate system used for positioning the text.

Steps

• Create data points for x and y
• Initialize the text position coordinates
• Plot the data using plot() method
• Use text() method with transform=plt.gcf().transFigure to position text outside the plot area
• Display the figure using show() method

Example

Here's how to place text outside the plot area using figure coordinates ?

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

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

x = np.linspace(1, 5, 100)
y = np.exp(x)

# Text position in figure coordinates (0 to 1)
text_pos_x = 0.60
text_pos_y = 0.50

plt.plot(x, y, c='red')
plt.text(text_pos_x, text_pos_y, r"$\mathit{y}=e^{x}$", fontsize=14,
         transform=plt.gcf().transFigure, color='green')
plt.show()

Understanding Transform Parameter

The transform parameter controls the coordinate system ?

• plt.gcf().transFigure ? Uses figure coordinates (0 to 1)
• plt.gca().transAxes ? Uses axes coordinates (0 to 1)
• plt.gca().transData ? Uses data coordinates (default)

Multiple Text Positions

You can place text at different positions outside the plot ?

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
y = np.sin(x)

plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6))
plt.plot(x, y, 'b-', linewidth=2)

# Text outside plot area using figure coordinates
plt.text(0.1, 0.9, "Top Left", transform=plt.gcf().transFigure, 
         fontsize=12, color='red')
plt.text(0.9, 0.9, "Top Right", transform=plt.gcf().transFigure, 
         fontsize=12, color='blue')
plt.text(0.5, 0.02, "Bottom Center", transform=plt.gcf().transFigure, 
         fontsize=12, color='green')

plt.title("Sine Wave")
plt.xlabel("x")
plt.ylabel("sin(x)")
plt.show()

Conclusion

Use transform=plt.gcf().transFigure with coordinates between 0 and 1 to place text outside the plot area. The transform parameter controls whether coordinates are relative to the figure, axes, or data.