Removing a dot in a scatter plot with matplotlib

Question

The below code creates a scatter plot with a white dot. How can I remove this dot without redrawing the whole figure?

g = Figure(figsize=(5,4), dpi=60);
b = g.add_subplot(111)
b.plot(x,y,'bo') # creates a blue dot
b.plot(x,y,'wo') # ovverrides the blue dot with a white dot (but the black circle around it remains)

Answer 1

Overplotting is not the same as removing. With your second plot call you draw a white marker, with a black border. You can set the edgecolor for a marker with plot(x,y,'wo', mec='w').

But if you really want to remove it, capture the returned line object, and call its remove method.

fig, ax = plt.subplots(subplot_kw={'xlim': [0,1],
                                   'ylim': [0,1]})


p1, = ax.plot(0.5, 0.5, 'bo') # creates a blue dot
p2, = ax.plot(0.5, 0.5, 'ro')

p2.remove()

The example above results in a figure with a blue marker. A red marker is added (in front) but also removed again.