Merge pull request matplotlib#4768 from tacaswell/enh_axes.remove

ENH: add remove call back to axes

Author: WeatherGod

doc/users/whats_new/2015-07-23_axes_remove_method.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+`ax.remove()` works as expected
+-------------------------------
+
+As with artists added to as `Axes`, `Axes` can be
+removed from their figure via ``ax.remove()``

lib/matplotlib/figure.py

@@ -908,6 +908,7 @@ def add_axes(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
         self._axstack.add(key, a)
         self.sca(a)
+        a._remove_method = lambda ax: self.delaxes(ax)
         self.stale = True
         return a
 
@@ -996,6 +997,7 @@ def add_subplot(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
         self._axstack.add(key, a)
         self.sca(a)
+        a._remove_method = lambda ax: self.delaxes(ax)
         self.stale = True
         return a
 

lib/matplotlib/tests/test_figure.py

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from matplotlib.externals import six
 from matplotlib.externals.six.moves import xrange
 
-from nose.tools import assert_equal, assert_true, assert_raises
+from nose.tools import assert_equal, assert_true
 from matplotlib.testing.decorators import image_comparison, cleanup
 from matplotlib.axes import Axes
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
@@ -181,6 +181,16 @@ def test_set_fig_size():
     assert_equal(fig.get_figheight(), 3)
 
 
+@cleanup
+def test_axes_remove():
+    fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2)
+    axes[-1, -1].remove()
+    for ax in axes.ravel()[:-1]:
+        assert ax in fig.axes
+    assert axes[-1, -1] not in fig.axes
+    assert_equal(len(fig.axes), 3)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import nose
     nose.runmodule(argv=['-s', '--with-doctest'], exit=False)