How to do it...

The following code block displays six plots with the same data, but with different options for spines:

1. Set up the data for the plot:

theta = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, 128)
y = np.sin(theta)

2. Define the figure with its size:

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8,6))

3. Define the first axes and plot the sin wave with default spines:

ax1 = fig.add_subplot(2, 3, 1)
ax1.plot(theta, np.sin(theta), 'b-*')
ax1.set_title('default spines')

4. Define the function to plot a graph:

def plot_graph(axs, title, lposition, bposition):
    ax = fig.add_subplot(axs)
    ax.plot(theta, y, 'b-*')
    ax.set_title(title)
    ax.spines['left'].set_position(lposition)
    ax.spines['right'].set_visible(False)
    ax.spines['bottom'].set_position(bposition)
    ax.spines['top'].set_visible(False)
    ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom')
    ax.yaxis.set_ticks_position('left')

5. Plot five graphs with different position of spines:

plot_graph(232, 'centered spines', 'center', 'center') 
plot_graph(233, 'zeroed spines', 'zero', 'zero')
plot_graph(234, 'spines at axes [0.25, 0.75]', ('axes', 0.25), 
          ('axes', 0.75))
plot_graph(235, 'spines at data [1.0, -1.0]', ('data', 1.0), 
          ('data', -1.0))
plot_graph(236, 'adjusted spines', ('outward', 10), ('outward', 10))

6. Adjust space in between the plots and display the figure on the screen:

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()