Swap some labels in legend - matplotlib

Question

Consider the following example:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np


fig = plt.figure(figsize=(4,6))
axis = fig.add_subplot(111)
x = np.linspace(1,2,100)
axis.plot(x, x, label = "a")
axis.plot(x, x**2, label = "b")
axis.plot(x, x**3, label = "c")
axis.plot(x, x**4, label = "d")
axis.legend()

plt.show()

Is there a simple way to swap the first (a with blue line) and last object (d with red line) with each other without changing the order in the code. The legend should therefore show the order (from top to bottom):

• red line d
• orange line b
• green line c
• blue handling a

Answer 1

You could get the legend's handles and labels with get_legend_handles_labels and reset them in the mentioned order:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np


fig = plt.figure(figsize=(16,10))
axis = fig.add_subplot(111)
x = np.linspace(1,2,100)
axis.plot(x, x, label = "a")
axis.plot(x, x**2, label = "b")
axis.plot(x, x**3, label = "c")
axis.plot(x, x**4, label = "d")

axis.legend()
handles, labels = axis.get_legend_handles_labels()
axis.legend([handles[-1]] + handles[1:-1] + [handles[0]], 
            [labels[-1]] + labels[1:-1] + [labels[0]])

plt.show()