Combine showing multiple figure labels

Question

I have two sub-figures in a figure (say Figure M) called a and b. How can I combine showing multiple figure labels like this?

Figure Ma and b

P.S. I can easily get the following figure labels by command Figure \ref{fig_M_a} and \ref{fig_M_b} (assume the labels for them are fig_M_a and fig_M_b respectively):

Figure Ma and Mb

Answer 1

You can use \subref; in the following example I assumed subcaption was used to produce the subfigures:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{subcaption}

\begin{document}

As we can see in Figures~\ref{fig:testa} and~\subref{fig:testb}...

\begin{figure}
\centering
\subcaptionbox{first subfigure\label{fig:testa}}{\rule{4cm}{1cm}}\qquad
\subcaptionbox{second subfigure\label{fig:testb}}{\rule{4cm}{1cm}}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

Using subfig and \subfloat this will produce the desired result:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{subfig}
\captionsetup[subfigure]{subrefformat=simple,labelformat=parens,listofformat=subsimple}

\begin{document}

As we can see in Figures~\ref{fig:testa} and~\subref{fig:testb}...

\begin{figure}
\centering
\subfloat[first subfigure\label{fig:testa}]{\rule{4cm}{1cm}}\qquad
\subfloat[second subfigure\label{fig:testb}]{\rule{4cm}{1cm}}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

Answer 2

You can also put a \caption{} and corresponding \label{} for the whole figure, and reference that. That sounds like what you really want.