Reducing margin as small as possible in subfigure

Question

I use subfigure to implement subfigure and I use \hspace or \vspace. I want very small margin to maximize the size of subfigures but when I set \hspace{0cm} and \vspace{0cm}, there is still large enough margin left between 2 subfigures hence I can not maximize subfigure size. How to solve this problem? My code is like this :

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering

\subfigure[11a's TX rate]{
\includegraphics[scale =0.25] {fig/cdf_rate11a.eps}
\label{cdf_rate11a}
}
\hspace{0cm}
\subfigure[11n's TX rate]{
\includegraphics[scale =0.25] {fig/cdf_rate11n.eps}
\label{cdf_rate11n}
}

\caption{Coverage comparison in various location}
\label{coverage_comparison}
\end{figure}

hspace adds space and \hspace{0pt} adds no space, compare hello\hspace{0pt}world with hello\hspace{3cm}world (At the start of a paragraph, as you had used it it does nothing at all) — David Carlisle, May 16 '14 at 13:21
Welcome to TeX.SX! First, note that the subfigure package is considered deprecated, use subfig or subcaption instead. Second, a line break inserts a space, so you need to for example add % at the end of some lines (see e.g. Where are the necessary places to be appended with % to remove unwanted spaces?). — Torbjørn T., May 16 '14 at 13:24
@Timmy sorry I was wrong (it was not at the start of the paragraph, I'd misread the example) I deleted the comment. — David Carlisle, May 16 '14 at 13:31
Thank you, I add some % in the end of some lines and margin is reduced well now. And I can also use negative space in this case I use \hspace{-0.5cm}. Now there is no useless margin. — bnbfreak, May 16 '14 at 13:33

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 16 '14 at 13:43

If I understand your objective correctly, you're looking to place two subfigures side by side. In order to maximize their size, while also maximizing the available distance between them, don't specify a scale option in the \includegraphics instructions. Instead, specify a large value for the width of each subfigure environment -- e.g., 0.48\textwidth -- and use the width=\linewidth option when executing \includegraphics. And, be sure to use an instruction such as \hspace{\fill} to maximize the separation between the subfigures.

The following image shows the resulting look. The thin horizontal line on top is drawn just to illustrate the width of the text block.

enter image description here

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{subcaption}      % for 'subfigure'  environment
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}  % omit 'demo' in your real document
\begin{document}
\hrule % just to illustrate the width of the text block
\begin{figure}[h!]
%%\centering  % not needed as the subfigures are maximally separated

\begin{subfigure}{0.48\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{fig/cdf_rate11a.eps}
\caption{11a's TX rate}
\label{fig:cdf_rate11a}
\end{subfigure}
\hspace*{\fill}
\begin{subfigure}{0.48\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{fig/cdf_rate11n.eps}
\caption{11n's TX rate}
\label{fig:cdf_rate11n}
\end{subfigure}

\caption{Coverage comparison in various locations}
\label{fig:coverage_comparison}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

I have an error while running that, I just use from \begin{figure} till \end{figure} : ! Missing number, treated as zero. } l.174 \begin{subfigure}{0.48\textwidth}
? — bnbfreak, May 16 '14 at 14:20
@user2290560 - Are you maybe also loading either the subfigure or the subfig package, in addition to the subcaption package that's used in the example code above? — Mico, May 16 '14 at 15:37
That error is disappeared when I comment subfigure package but another error happens : ! Missing number, treated as zero. \let l.81 } — bnbfreak, May 17 '14 at 05:45
@user2290560 - I'm afraid this new information isn't sufficient to diagnose what's going on. What's on line 81 (the line that contains the \let statement), and what are the instructions on the couple of lines that immediately precede the line that contain the \let statement? Do consider posting a new query, with a new MWE (minimum working example, starting with \documentclass and ending with \end{document}) that generates the error. — Mico, May 17 '14 at 06:00
Indeed, it works when I just run your code. maybe the problem is with my additional codes. I will find it again — bnbfreak, May 17 '14 at 08:22

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 16 '14 at 13:26

The subfigures are positioned like a letter X.

If you go

XX

there is no space between them.

If you go

X
X

There is one word space between them.

Your usage is like

X
{}
X

with two word spaces between them

and

X

X

would put them one above the other in separate paragraphs

Reducing margin as small as possible in subfigure

2 Answers2