Bug summary

Axis.get_tick_space is used to determine (approximate) ticklabel size, which is then used to determine the number of ticks that can fit. Currently, this assumes that ticklabels are drawn horizontally, so rotating the tick labels can yield poor results. It would be nice if ticklabel rotation (as set by tick_params) was taken into account in the computation.

Code for reproduction

from pylab import *; rcdefaults()

fig = figure(figsize=(1.8, 1.8), layout="constrained")
ax = fig.add_subplot(xlim=(0, 1), ylim=(0, 1))

fig = figure(figsize=(1.8, 1.8), layout="constrained")
ax = fig.add_subplot(xlim=(0, 1), ylim=(0, 1))
ax.tick_params(rotation=90)

show()

Actual outcome

The first figure has reasonably spaced ticklabels; the second figure has too many yticklabels and (maybe) too few xticklabels.

Expected outcome

In the second plot ~3 yticks (at 0, 0.5, 1) and 5-6 xticks (every 0.2 or every 0.25).

Additional information

No response

Operating system

macos

Matplotlib Version

3.12.0.dev263+g0677cc8c1

Matplotlib Backend

any

Python version

Python 3.14.0

Jupyter version

ENOSUCHLIB

Installation

git checkout