Below we describe several common approaches to plotting with Matplotlib.



Contents


​​The Pyplot API​​

The ​​matplotlib.pyplot​​ module contains functions that allow you to generate many kinds of plots quickly. For examples that showcase the use of the ​​matplotlib.pyplot​​ module, see the ​​Pyplot tutorial​​​ or the ​​Pyplot Examples​​. We also recommend that you look into the object-oriented approach to plotting, described below.


​matplotlib.pyplot.​​​​plotting​

( )


Function

Description

​acorr​

Plot the autocorrelation of ​​x​​.

​angle_spectrum​

Plot the angle spectrum.

​annotate​

Annotate the point ​​xy​​ with text ​​s​​.

​arrow​

Add an arrow to the axes.

​autoscale​

Autoscale the axis view to the data (toggle).

​axes​

Add an axes to the figure.

​axhline​

Add a horizontal line across the axis.

​axhspan​

Add a horizontal span (rectangle) across the axis.

​axis​

Convenience method to get or set axis properties.

​axvline​

Add a vertical line across the axes.

​axvspan​

Add a vertical span (rectangle) across the axes.

​bar​

Make a bar plot.

​barbs​

Plot a 2-D field of barbs.

​barh​

Make a horizontal bar plot.

​box​

Turn the axes box on or off.

​boxplot​

Make a box and whisker plot.

​broken_barh​

Plot horizontal bars.

​cla​

Clear the current axes.

​clabel​

Label a contour plot.

​clf​

Clear the current figure.

​clim​

Set the color limits of the current image.

​close​

Close a figure window.

​cohere​

Plot the coherence between x and y.

​colorbar​

Add a colorbar to a plot.

​contour​

Plot contours.

​contourf​

Plot contours.

​csd​

Plot the cross-spectral density.

​delaxes​

Remove an axes from the current figure.

​draw​

Redraw the current figure.

​errorbar​

Plot an errorbar graph.

​eventplot​

Plot identical parallel lines at the given positions.

​figimage​

Adds a non-resampled image to the figure.

​figlegend​

Place a legend in the figure.

​fignum_exists​

 

​figtext​

Add text to figure.

​figure​

Creates a new figure.

​fill​

Plot filled polygons.

​fill_between​

Make filled polygons between two curves.

​fill_betweenx​

Make filled polygons between two horizontal curves.

​findobj​

Find artist objects.

​gca​

Get the current ​​Axes​​ instance on the current figure matching the given keyword args, or create one.

​gcf​

Get a reference to the current figure.

​gci​

Get the current colorable artist.

​get_figlabels​

Return a list of existing figure labels.

​get_fignums​

Return a list of existing figure numbers.

​grid​

Turn the axes grids on or off.

​hexbin​

Make a hexagonal binning plot.

​hist​

Plot a histogram.

​hist2d​

Make a 2D histogram plot.

​hlines​

Plot horizontal lines at each ​​y​​ from ​​xmin​​ to ​​xmax​​.

​hold​

 

​imread​

Read an image from a file into an array.

​imsave​

Save an array as in image file.

​imshow​

Display an image on the axes.

​install_repl_displayhook​

Install a repl display hook so that any stale figure are automatically redrawn when control is returned to the repl.

​ioff​

Turn interactive mode off.

​ion​

Turn interactive mode on.

​ishold​

 

​isinteractive​

Return status of interactive mode.

​legend​

Places a legend on the axes.

​locator_params​

Control behavior of tick locators.

​loglog​

Make a plot with log scaling on both the x and y axis.

​magnitude_spectrum​

Plot the magnitude spectrum.

​margins​

Set or retrieve autoscaling margins.

​matshow​

Display an array as a matrix in a new figure window.

​minorticks_off​

Remove minor ticks from the current plot.

​minorticks_on​

Display minor ticks on the current plot.

​over​

 

​pause​

Pause for interval seconds.

​pcolor​

Create a pseudocolor plot of a 2-D array.

​pcolormesh​

Plot a quadrilateral mesh.

​phase_spectrum​

Plot the phase spectrum.

​pie​

Plot a pie chart.

​plot​

Plot lines and/or markers to the ​​Axes​​.

​plot_date​

A plot with data that contains dates.

​plotfile​

Plot the data in a file.

​polar​

Make a polar plot.

​psd​

Plot the power spectral density.

​quiver​

Plot a 2-D field of arrows.

​quiverkey​

Add a key to a quiver plot.

​rc​

Set the current rc params.

​rc_context​

Return a context manager for managing rc settings.

​rcdefaults​

Restore the rc params from Matplotlib’s internal defaults.

​rgrids​

Get or set the radial gridlines on a polar plot.

​savefig​

Save the current figure.

​sca​

Set the current Axes instance to ax.

​scatter​

Make a scatter plot of ​​x​​ vs ​​y​​.

​sci​

Set the current image.

​semilogx​

Make a plot with log scaling on the x axis.

​semilogy​

Make a plot with log scaling on the ​​y​​ axis.

​set_cmap​

Set the default colormap.

​setp​

Set a property on an artist object.

​show​

Display a figure.

​specgram​

Plot a spectrogram.

​spy​

Plot the sparsity pattern on a 2-D array.

​stackplot​

Draws a stacked area plot.

​stem​

Create a stem plot.

​step​

Make a step plot.

​streamplot​

Draws streamlines of a vector flow.

​subplot​

Return a subplot axes positioned by the given grid definition.

​subplot2grid​

Create a subplot in a grid.

​subplot_tool​

Launch a subplot tool window for a figure.

​subplots​

Create a figure and a set of subplots This utility wrapper makes it convenient to create common layouts of subplots, including the enclosing figure object, in a single call.

​subplots_adjust​

Tune the subplot layout.

​suptitle​

Add a centered title to the figure.

​switch_backend​

Switch the default backend.

​table​

Add a table to the current axes.

​text​

Add text to the axes.

​thetagrids​

Get or set the theta locations of the gridlines in a polar plot.

​tick_params​

Change the appearance of ticks and tick labels.

​ticklabel_format​

Change the ​​ScalarFormatter​​ used by default for linear axes.

​tight_layout​

Automatically adjust subplot parameters to give specified padding.

​title​

Set a title of the current axes.

​tricontour​

Draw contours on an unstructured triangular grid.

​tricontourf​

Draw contours on an unstructured triangular grid.

​tripcolor​

Create a pseudocolor plot of an unstructured triangular grid.

​triplot​

Draw a unstructured triangular grid as lines and/or markers.

​twinx​

Make a second axes that shares the x-axis.

​twiny​

Make a second axes that shares the y-axis.

​uninstall_repl_displayhook​

Uninstalls the matplotlib display hook.

​violinplot​

Make a violin plot.

​vlines​

Plot vertical lines.

​xcorr​

Plot the cross correlation between x and y.

​xkcd​

Turns on ​​xkcd​​ sketch-style drawing mode.

​xlabel​

Set the x axis label of the current axis.

​xlim​

Get or set the x limits of the current axes.

​xscale​

Set the scaling of the x-axis.

​xticks​

Get or set the x-limits of the current tick locations and labels.

​ylabel​

Set the y axis label of the current axis.

​ylim​

Get or set the y-limits of the current axes.

​yscale​

Set the scaling of the y-axis.

​yticks​

Get or set the y-limits of the current tick locations and labels.


​​The Object-Oriented API​​

Most of these functions also exist as methods in the ​​matplotlib.axes.Axes​​ class. You can use them with the “Object Oriented” approach to Matplotlib.While it is easy to quickly generate plots with the ​​matplotlib.pyplot​​ module, we recommend using the object-oriented approach for more control and customization of your plots. See the methods in the ​​matplotlib.axes.Axes()​​​ class for many of the same plotting functions. For examples of the OO approach to Matplotlib, see the ​​API Examples​​.


​​Colors in Matplotlib​​

There are many colormaps you can use to map data onto color values. Below we list several ways in which color can be utilized in Matplotlib.

For a more in-depth look at colormaps, see the ​​Colormaps in Matplotlib​​ tutorial.



​matplotlib.pyplot.​​​​colormaps​

( )

Matplotlib provides a number of colormaps, and others can be added using ​​register_cmap()​​. This function documents the built-in colormaps, and will also return a list of all registered colormaps if called.

You can set the colormap for an image, pcolor, scatter, etc, using a keyword argument:



imshow(X, cmap=cm.hot)


or using the ​​set_cmap()​​ function:


imshow(X)
pyplot.set_cmap('hot')
pyplot.set_cmap('jet')


In interactive mode, ​​set_cmap()​​ will update the colormap post-hoc, allowing you to see which one works best for your data.All built-in colormaps can be reversed by appending ​​_r​​: For instance, ​​gray_r​​ is the reverse of ​​gray​​.

There are several common color schemes used in visualization:


Sequential schemes for unipolar data that progresses from low to high Diverging schemes for bipolar data that emphasizes positive or negative deviations from a central value Cyclic schemes meant for plotting values that wrap around at the endpoints, such as phase angle, wind direction, or time of day Qualitative schemes for nominal data that has no inherent ordering, where color is used only to distinguish categories

Matplotlib ships with 4 perceptually uniform color maps which are the recommended color maps for sequential data:

Colormap

Description

inferno

perceptually uniform shades of black-red-yellow

magma

perceptually uniform shades of black-red-white

plasma

perceptually uniform shades of blue-red-yellow

viridis

perceptually uniform shades of blue-green-yellow


The following colormaps are based on the ​​ColorBrewer​​ color specifications and designs developed by Cynthia Brewer:

ColorBrewer Diverging (luminance is highest at the midpoint, and decreases towards differently-colored endpoints):

Colormap

Description

BrBG

brown, white, blue-green

PiYG

pink, white, yellow-green

PRGn

purple, white, green

PuOr

orange, white, purple

RdBu

red, white, blue

RdGy

red, white, gray

RdYlBu

red, yellow, blue

RdYlGn

red, yellow, green

Spectral

red, orange, yellow, green, blue


ColorBrewer Sequential (luminance decreases monotonically):

Colormap

Description

Blues

white to dark blue

BuGn

white, light blue, dark green

BuPu

white, light blue, dark purple

GnBu

white, light green, dark blue

Greens

white to dark green

Greys

white to black (not linear)

Oranges

white, orange, dark brown

OrRd

white, orange, dark red

PuBu

white, light purple, dark blue

PuBuGn

white, light purple, dark green

PuRd

white, light purple, dark red

Purples

white to dark purple

RdPu

white, pink, dark purple

Reds

white to dark red

YlGn

light yellow, dark green

YlGnBu

light yellow, light green, dark blue

YlOrBr

light yellow, orange, dark brown

YlOrRd

light yellow, orange, dark red


ColorBrewer Qualitative:

(For plotting nominal data, ​​ListedColormap​​ is used, not ​​LinearSegmentedColormap​​. Different sets of colors are recommended for different numbers of categories.)

  • Accent
  • Dark2
  • Paired
  • Pastel1
  • Pastel2
  • Set1
  • Set2
  • Set3

A set of colormaps derived from those of the same name provided with Matlab are also included:

Colormap

Description

autumn

sequential linearly-increasing shades of red-orange-yellow

bone

sequential increasing black-white color map with a tinge of blue, to emulate X-ray film

cool

linearly-decreasing shades of cyan-magenta

copper

sequential increasing shades of black-copper

flag

repetitive red-white-blue-black pattern (not cyclic at endpoints)

gray

sequential linearly-increasing black-to-white grayscale

hot

sequential black-red-yellow-white, to emulate blackbody radiation from an object at increasing temperatures

hsv

cyclic red-yellow-green-cyan-blue-magenta-red, formed by changing the hue component in the HSV color space

jet

a spectral map with dark endpoints, blue-cyan-yellow-red; based on a fluid-jet simulation by NCSA ​​[1]​

pink

sequential increasing pastel black-pink-white, meant for sepia tone colorization of photographs

prism

repetitive red-yellow-green-blue-purple-…-green pattern (not cyclic at endpoints)

spring

linearly-increasing shades of magenta-yellow

summer

sequential linearly-increasing shades of green-yellow

winter

linearly-increasing shades of blue-green


A set of palettes from the ​​Yorick scientific visualisation package​​, an evolution of the GIST package, both by David H. Munro are included:

Colormap

Description

gist_earth

mapmaker’s colors from dark blue deep ocean to green lowlands to brown highlands to white mountains

gist_heat

sequential increasing black-red-orange-white, to emulate blackbody radiation from an iron bar as it grows hotter

gist_ncar

pseudo-spectral black-blue-green-yellow-red-purple-white colormap from National Center for Atmospheric Research ​​[2]​

gist_rainbow

runs through the colors in spectral order from red to violet at full saturation (like hsv but not cyclic)

gist_stern

“Stern special” color table from Interactive Data Language software


Other miscellaneous schemes:

Colormap

Description

afmhot

sequential black-orange-yellow-white blackbody spectrum, commonly used in atomic force microscopy

brg

blue-red-green

bwr

diverging blue-white-red

coolwarm

diverging blue-gray-red, meant to avoid issues with 3D shading, color blindness, and ordering of colors ​​[3]​

CMRmap

“Default colormaps on color images often reproduce to confusing grayscale images. The proposed colormap maintains an aesthetically pleasing color image that automatically reproduces to a monotonic grayscale with discrete, quantifiable saturation levels.” ​​[4]​

cubehelix

Unlike most other color schemes cubehelix was designed by D.A. Green to be monotonically increasing in terms of perceived brightness. Also, when printed on a black and white postscript printer, the scheme results in a greyscale with monotonically increasing brightness. This color scheme is named cubehelix because the r,g,b values produced can be visualised as a squashed helix around the diagonal in the r,g,b color cube.

gnuplot

gnuplot’s traditional pm3d scheme (black-blue-red-yellow)

gnuplot2

sequential color printable as gray (black-blue-violet-yellow-white)

ocean

green-blue-white

rainbow

spectral purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red colormap with diverging luminance

seismic

diverging blue-white-red

nipy_spectral

black-purple-blue-green-yellow-red-white spectrum, originally from the Neuroimaging in Python project

terrain

mapmaker’s colors, blue-green-yellow-brown-white, originally from IGOR Pro


The following colormaps are redundant and may be removed in future versions. It’s recommended to use the names in the descriptions instead, which produce identical output:

Colormap

Description

gist_gray

identical to gray

gist_yarg

identical to gray_r

binary

identical to gray_r

spectral

identical to nipy_spectral ​​[5]​