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<div class="sphx-glr-download-link-note admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="#sphx-glr-download-tutorials-pyplot-py"><span class="std std-ref">Go to the end</span></a>
to download the full example code.</p>
</div>
<section class="sphx-glr-example-title" id="pyplot-tutorial">
<span id="sphx-glr-tutorials-pyplot-py"></span><span id="id1"></span><h1>Pyplot tutorial<a class="headerlink" href="#pyplot-tutorial" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h1>
<p>An introduction to the pyplot interface. Please also see
<a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/quick_start.html#quick-start"><span class="std std-ref">Quick start guide</span></a> for an overview of how Matplotlib
works and <a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/figure/api_interfaces.html#api-interfaces"><span class="std std-ref">Matplotlib Application Interfaces (APIs)</span></a> for an explanation of the trade-offs between the
supported user APIs.</p>
<section id="introduction-to-pyplot">
<h2>Introduction to pyplot<a class="headerlink" href="#introduction-to-pyplot" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="../api/pyplot_summary.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot</span></code></a> is a collection of functions that make matplotlib
work like MATLAB. Each <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot</span></code> function makes some change to a figure:
e.g., creates a figure, creates a plotting area in a figure, plots some lines
in a plotting area, decorates the plot with labels, etc.</p>
<p>In <a class="reference internal" href="../api/pyplot_summary.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot</span></code></a> various states are preserved
across function calls, so that it keeps track of things like
the current figure and plotting area, and the plotting
functions are directed to the current Axes (please note that we use uppercase
Axes to refer to the <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Axes</span></code></a> concept, which is a central
<a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/quick_start.html#figure-parts"><span class="std std-ref">part of a figure</span></a>
and not only the plural of <em>axis</em>).</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>The implicit pyplot API is generally less verbose but also not as flexible as the
explicit API. Most of the function calls you see here can also be called
as methods from an <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Axes</span></code> object. We recommend browsing the tutorials
and examples to see how this works. See <a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/figure/api_interfaces.html#api-interfaces"><span class="std std-ref">Matplotlib Application Interfaces (APIs)</span></a> for an
explanation of the trade-off of the supported user APIs.</p>
</div>
<p>Generating visualizations with pyplot is very quick:</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">matplotlib.pyplot</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">as</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">plt</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">])</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ylabel</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'some numbers'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_001.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_001.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_001_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="pyplot" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/><p>You may be wondering why the x-axis ranges from 0-3 and the y-axis
from 1-4. If you provide a single list or array to
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot</span></code></a>, matplotlib assumes it is a
sequence of y values, and automatically generates the x values for
you. Since python ranges start with 0, the default x vector has the
same length as y but starts with 0; therefore, the x data are
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[0,</span> <span class="pre">1,</span> <span class="pre">2,</span> <span class="pre">3]</span></code>.</p>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot</span></code></a> is a versatile function, and will take an arbitrary number of
arguments. For example, to plot x versus y, you can write:</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">9</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">16</span><span class="p">])</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_002.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_002.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_002_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="pyplot" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/><section id="formatting-the-style-of-your-plot">
<h3>Formatting the style of your plot<a class="headerlink" href="#formatting-the-style-of-your-plot" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>For every x, y pair of arguments, there is an optional third argument
which is the format string that indicates the color and line type of
the plot. The letters and symbols of the format string are from
MATLAB, and you concatenate a color string with a line style string.
The default format string is 'b-', which is a solid blue line. For
example, to plot the above with red circles, you would issue</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">9</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">16</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="s1">'ro'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.axis.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axis" title="matplotlib.pyplot.axis" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">axis</span></a><span class="p">((</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">6</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">20</span><span class="p">))</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_003.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_003.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_003_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="pyplot" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/><p>See the <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot</span></code></a> documentation for a complete
list of line styles and format strings. The
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.axis.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axis" title="matplotlib.pyplot.axis"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">axis</span></code></a> function in the example above takes a
list of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[xmin,</span> <span class="pre">xmax,</span> <span class="pre">ymin,</span> <span class="pre">ymax]</span></code> and specifies the viewport of the
Axes.</p>
<p>If matplotlib were limited to working with lists, it would be fairly
useless for numeric processing. Generally, you will use <a class="reference external" href="https://numpy.org/">numpy</a> arrays. In fact, all sequences are
converted to numpy arrays internally. The example below illustrates
plotting several lines with different format styles in one function call
using arrays.</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">numpy</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">as</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">np</span>
<span class="c1"># evenly sampled time at 200ms intervals</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.arange.html#numpy.arange" title="numpy.arange" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">5.</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">0.2</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># red dashes, blue squares and green triangles</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'r--'</span><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="o">**</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'bs'</span><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="o">**</span><span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'g^'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_004.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_004.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_004_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="pyplot" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/></section>
</section>
<section id="plotting-with-keyword-strings">
<span id="plotting-with-keywords"></span><h2>Plotting with keyword strings<a class="headerlink" href="#plotting-with-keyword-strings" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>There are some instances where you have data in a format that lets you
access particular variables with strings. For example, with <a class="reference external" href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/user/basics.rec.html#structured-arrays">structured arrays</a>
or <a class="reference external" href="https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/reference/api/pandas.DataFrame.html#pandas.DataFrame" title="(in pandas v2.3.3)"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pandas.DataFrame</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>Matplotlib allows you to provide such an object with
the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">data</span></code> keyword argument. If provided, then you may generate plots with
the strings corresponding to these variables.</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict" title="builtins.dict" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">data</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">{</span><span class="s1">'a'</span><span class="p">:</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.arange.html#numpy.arange" title="numpy.arange" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">),</span>
<span class="s1">'c'</span><span class="p">:</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/random/generated/numpy.random.randint.html#numpy.random.randint" title="numpy.random.randint" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy-random sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">random</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">randint</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">),</span>
<span class="s1">'d'</span><span class="p">:</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/random/generated/numpy.random.randn.html#numpy.random.randn" title="numpy.random.randn" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy-random sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">random</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">randn</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">)}</span>
<a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict" title="builtins.dict" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">data</span></a><span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'b'</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict" title="builtins.dict" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">data</span></a><span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'a'</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="mi">10</span> <span class="o">*</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/random/generated/numpy.random.randn.html#numpy.random.randn" title="numpy.random.randn" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy-random sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">random</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">randn</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict" title="builtins.dict" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">data</span></a><span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'d'</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ufunc.html#numpy.ufunc" title="numpy.ufunc" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">abs</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict" title="builtins.dict" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">data</span></a><span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'d'</span><span class="p">])</span> <span class="o">*</span> <span class="mi">100</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.scatter.html#matplotlib.pyplot.scatter" title="matplotlib.pyplot.scatter" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">scatter</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'a'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'b'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">c</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'c'</span><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">s</span></a><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'d'</span><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict" title="builtins.dict" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">data</span></a><span class="o">=</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict" title="builtins.dict" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">data</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">xlabel</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'entry a'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ylabel</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'entry b'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_005.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_005.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_005_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="pyplot" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/></section>
<section id="plotting-with-categorical-variables">
<span id="plotting-with-categorical-vars"></span><h2>Plotting with categorical variables<a class="headerlink" href="#plotting-with-categorical-variables" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>It is also possible to create a plot using categorical variables.
Matplotlib allows you to pass categorical variables directly to
many plotting functions. For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">names</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'group_a'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'group_b'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'group_c'</span><span class="p">]</span>
<a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">values</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">10</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">100</span><span class="p">]</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">figsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">9</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">))</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">131</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.bar.html#matplotlib.pyplot.bar" title="matplotlib.pyplot.bar" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">bar</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">names</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">values</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">132</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.scatter.html#matplotlib.pyplot.scatter" title="matplotlib.pyplot.scatter" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">scatter</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">names</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">values</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">133</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">names</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#list" title="builtins.list" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">values</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.suptitle.html#matplotlib.pyplot.suptitle" title="matplotlib.pyplot.suptitle" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">suptitle</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Categorical Plotting'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_006.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_006.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_006_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="Categorical Plotting" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/></section>
<section id="controlling-line-properties">
<span id="id2"></span><h2>Controlling line properties<a class="headerlink" href="#controlling-line-properties" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Lines have many attributes that you can set: linewidth, dash style,
antialiased, etc; see <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.lines.Line2D.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.lines.Line2D</span></code></a>. There are
several ways to set line properties</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Use keyword arguments:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">linewidth</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">2.0</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p>Use the setter methods of a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Line2D</span></code> instance. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot</span></code> returns a list
of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Line2D</span></code> objects; e.g., <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">line1,</span> <span class="pre">line2</span> <span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">plot(x1,</span> <span class="pre">y1,</span> <span class="pre">x2,</span> <span class="pre">y2)</span></code>. In the code
below we will suppose that we have only
one line so that the list returned is of length 1. We use tuple unpacking with
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">line,</span></code> to get the first element of that list:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.lines.Line2D.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-lines sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">line</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'-'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.lines.Line2D.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-lines sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">line</span></a><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_antialiased</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="kc">False</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># turn off antialiasing</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p>Use <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.setp.html#matplotlib.pyplot.setp" title="matplotlib.pyplot.setp"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setp</span></code></a>. The example below
uses a MATLAB-style function to set multiple properties
on a list of lines. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setp</span></code> works transparently with a list of objects
or a single object. You can either use python keyword arguments or
MATLAB-style string/value pairs:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">lines</span> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">x1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">y1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">x2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">y2</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># use keyword arguments</span>
<span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setp</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">lines</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">color</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'r'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">linewidth</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">2.0</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># or MATLAB style string value pairs</span>
<span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setp</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">lines</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'color'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'r'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'linewidth'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">2.0</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Here are the available <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.lines.Line2D.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Line2D</span></code></a> properties.</p>
<div class="pst-scrollable-table-container"><table class="table">
<thead>
<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Property</p></th>
<th class="head"><p>Value Type</p></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>alpha</p></td>
<td><p>float</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>animated</p></td>
<td><p>[True | False]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>antialiased or aa</p></td>
<td><p>[True | False]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>clip_box</p></td>
<td><p>a matplotlib.transform.Bbox instance</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>clip_on</p></td>
<td><p>[True | False]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>clip_path</p></td>
<td><p>a Path instance and a Transform instance, a Patch</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>color or c</p></td>
<td><p>any matplotlib color</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>contains</p></td>
<td><p>the hit testing function</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>dash_capstyle</p></td>
<td><p>[<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'butt'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'round'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'projecting'</span></code>]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>dash_joinstyle</p></td>
<td><p>[<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'miter'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'round'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'bevel'</span></code>]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>dashes</p></td>
<td><p>sequence of on/off ink in points</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>data</p></td>
<td><p>(np.array xdata, np.array ydata)</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>figure</p></td>
<td><p>a matplotlib.figure.Figure instance</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>label</p></td>
<td><p>any string</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>linestyle or ls</p></td>
<td><p>[ <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'-'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'--'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'-.'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">':'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'steps'</span></code> | ...]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>linewidth or lw</p></td>
<td><p>float value in points</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>marker</p></td>
<td><p>[ <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'+'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">','</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'.'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'1'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'2'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'3'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'4'</span></code> ]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>markeredgecolor or mec</p></td>
<td><p>any matplotlib color</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>markeredgewidth or mew</p></td>
<td><p>float value in points</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>markerfacecolor or mfc</p></td>
<td><p>any matplotlib color</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>markersize or ms</p></td>
<td><p>float</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>markevery</p></td>
<td><p>[ None | integer | (startind, stride) ]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>picker</p></td>
<td><p>used in interactive line selection</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>pickradius</p></td>
<td><p>the line pick selection radius</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>solid_capstyle</p></td>
<td><p>[<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'butt'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'round'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'projecting'</span></code>]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>solid_joinstyle</p></td>
<td><p>[<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'miter'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'round'</span></code> | <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'bevel'</span></code>]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>transform</p></td>
<td><p>a matplotlib.transforms.Transform instance</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>visible</p></td>
<td><p>[True | False]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>xdata</p></td>
<td><p>np.array</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>ydata</p></td>
<td><p>np.array</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>zorder</p></td>
<td><p>any number</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>To get a list of settable line properties, call the
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.setp.html#matplotlib.pyplot.setp" title="matplotlib.pyplot.setp"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setp</span></code></a> function with a line or lines as argument</p>
<div class="highlight-ipython notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">In [69]: </span><span class="n">lines</span> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">])</span>
<span class="gp">In [70]: </span><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setp</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">lines</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go"> alpha: float</span>
<span class="go"> animated: [True | False]</span>
<span class="go"> antialiased or aa: [True | False]</span>
<span class="go"> ...snip</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="working-with-multiple-figures-and-axes">
<span id="multiple-figs-axes"></span><h2>Working with multiple figures and Axes<a class="headerlink" href="#working-with-multiple-figures-and-axes" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>MATLAB, and <a class="reference internal" href="../api/pyplot_summary.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot</span></code></a>, have the concept of the current figure
and the current Axes. All plotting functions apply to the current
Axes. The function <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.gca.html#matplotlib.pyplot.gca" title="matplotlib.pyplot.gca"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gca</span></code></a> returns the current Axes (a
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.axes.Axes</span></code></a> instance), and <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.gcf.html#matplotlib.pyplot.gcf" title="matplotlib.pyplot.gcf"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gcf</span></code></a> returns the current
figure (a <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.figure.Figure.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.figure.Figure</span></code></a> instance). Normally, you don't have to
worry about this, because it is all taken care of behind the scenes. Below
is a script to create two subplots.</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">f</span><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ufunc.html#numpy.ufunc" title="numpy.ufunc" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">exp</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="o">-</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">*</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ufunc.html#numpy.ufunc" title="numpy.ufunc" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cos</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="o">*</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#float" title="builtins.float" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pi</span></a><span class="o">*</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t1</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.arange.html#numpy.arange" title="numpy.arange" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">5.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">0.1</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t2</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.arange.html#numpy.arange" title="numpy.arange" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">5.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">0.02</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">211</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t1</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t1</span></a><span class="p">),</span> <span class="s1">'bo'</span><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t2</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t2</span></a><span class="p">),</span> <span class="s1">'k'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">212</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t2</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ufunc.html#numpy.ufunc" title="numpy.ufunc" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cos</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="o">*</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#float" title="builtins.float" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pi</span></a><span class="o">*</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t2</span></a><span class="p">),</span> <span class="s1">'r--'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_007.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_007.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_007_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="pyplot" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/><p>The <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">figure</span></code></a> call here is optional because a figure will be created
if none exists, just as an Axes will be created (equivalent to an explicit
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subplot()</span></code> call) if none exists.
The <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subplot</span></code></a> call specifies <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">numrows,</span>
<span class="pre">numcols,</span> <span class="pre">plot_number</span></code> where <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot_number</span></code> ranges from 1 to
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">numrows*numcols</span></code>. The commas in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subplot</span></code> call are
optional if <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">numrows*numcols<10</span></code>. So <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subplot(211)</span></code> is identical
to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subplot(2,</span> <span class="pre">1,</span> <span class="pre">1)</span></code>.</p>
<p>You can create an arbitrary number of subplots
and Axes. If you want to place an Axes manually, i.e., not on a
rectangular grid, use <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.axes.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axes" title="matplotlib.pyplot.axes"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">axes</span></code></a>,
which allows you to specify the location as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">axes([left,</span> <span class="pre">bottom,</span>
<span class="pre">width,</span> <span class="pre">height])</span></code> where all values are in fractional (0 to 1)
coordinates. See <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/axes_demo.html"><span class="doc">Axes Demo</span></a> for an example of
placing Axes manually and <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/subplot.html"><span class="doc">Multiple subplots</span></a> for an
example with lots of subplots.</p>
<p>You can create multiple figures by using multiple
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">figure</span></code></a> calls with an increasing figure
number. Of course, each figure can contain as many Axes and subplots
as your heart desires:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">matplotlib.pyplot</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">as</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">plt</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># the first figure</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">211</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># the first subplot in the first figure</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">])</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">212</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># the second subplot in the first figure</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">6</span><span class="p">])</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># a second figure</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">6</span><span class="p">])</span> <span class="c1"># creates a subplot() by default</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># first figure current;</span>
<span class="c1"># subplot(212) still current</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">211</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># make subplot(211) in the first figure</span>
<span class="c1"># current</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.title.html#matplotlib.pyplot.title" title="matplotlib.pyplot.title" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">title</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Easy as 1, 2, 3'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># subplot 211 title</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You can clear the current figure with <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.clf.html#matplotlib.pyplot.clf" title="matplotlib.pyplot.clf"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">clf</span></code></a>
and the current Axes with <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.cla.html#matplotlib.pyplot.cla" title="matplotlib.pyplot.cla"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cla</span></code></a>. If you find
it annoying that states (specifically the current image, figure and Axes)
are being maintained for you behind the scenes, don't despair: this is just a thin
stateful wrapper around an object-oriented API, which you can use
instead (see <a class="reference internal" href="artists.html#artists-tutorial"><span class="std std-ref">Artist tutorial</span></a>)</p>
<p>If you are making lots of figures, you need to be aware of one
more thing: the memory required for a figure is not completely
released until the figure is explicitly closed with
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.close.html#matplotlib.pyplot.close" title="matplotlib.pyplot.close"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">close</span></code></a>. Deleting all references to the
figure, and/or using the window manager to kill the window in which
the figure appears on the screen, is not enough, because pyplot
maintains internal references until <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.close.html#matplotlib.pyplot.close" title="matplotlib.pyplot.close"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">close</span></code></a>
is called.</p>
</section>
<section id="working-with-text">
<span id="id3"></span><h2>Working with text<a class="headerlink" href="#working-with-text" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.text.html#matplotlib.pyplot.text" title="matplotlib.pyplot.text"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">text</span></code></a> can be used to add text in an arbitrary location, and
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">xlabel</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ylabel</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.title.html#matplotlib.pyplot.title" title="matplotlib.pyplot.title"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">title</span></code></a> are used to add
text in the indicated locations (see <a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/text/text_intro.html#text-intro"><span class="std std-ref">Text in Matplotlib</span></a> for a
more detailed example)</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int" title="builtins.int" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">mu</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int" title="builtins.int" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">sigma</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">100</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">15</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int" title="builtins.int" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">mu</span></a> <span class="o">+</span> <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int" title="builtins.int" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">sigma</span></a> <span class="o">*</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/random/generated/numpy.random.randn.html#numpy.random.randn" title="numpy.random.randn" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy-random sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">random</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">randn</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">10000</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># the histogram of the data</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">n</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">bins</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="../api/container_api.html#matplotlib.container.BarContainer" title="matplotlib.container.BarContainer" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-container sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">patches</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.hist.html#matplotlib.pyplot.hist" title="matplotlib.pyplot.hist" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">hist</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">density</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">facecolor</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'g'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">alpha</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">0.75</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">xlabel</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Smarts'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ylabel</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Probability'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.title.html#matplotlib.pyplot.title" title="matplotlib.pyplot.title" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">title</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Histogram of IQ'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.text.html#matplotlib.pyplot.text" title="matplotlib.pyplot.text" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">text</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">60</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">.025</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="sa">r</span><span class="s1">'$\mu=100,\ \sigma=15$'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.axis.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axis" title="matplotlib.pyplot.axis" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">axis</span></a><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">40</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">160</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">0.03</span><span class="p">])</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.grid.html#matplotlib.pyplot.grid" title="matplotlib.pyplot.grid" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">grid</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_008.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_008.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_008_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="Histogram of IQ" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/><p>All of the <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.text.html#matplotlib.pyplot.text" title="matplotlib.pyplot.text"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">text</span></code></a> functions return a <a class="reference internal" href="../api/text_api.html#matplotlib.text.Text" title="matplotlib.text.Text"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.text.Text</span></code></a>
instance. Just as with lines above, you can customize the properties by
passing keyword arguments into the text functions or using <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.setp.html#matplotlib.pyplot.setp" title="matplotlib.pyplot.setp"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setp</span></code></a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel" title="matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">xlabel</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'my data'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">fontsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">14</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">color</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'red'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>These properties are covered in more detail in <a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/text/text_props.html#text-props"><span class="std std-ref">Text properties and layout</span></a>.</p>
<section id="using-mathematical-expressions-in-text">
<h3>Using mathematical expressions in text<a class="headerlink" href="#using-mathematical-expressions-in-text" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>Matplotlib accepts TeX equation expressions in any text expression.
For example to write the expression <span class="math notranslate nohighlight">\(\sigma_i=15\)</span> in the title,
you can write a TeX expression surrounded by dollar signs:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.title.html#matplotlib.pyplot.title" title="matplotlib.pyplot.title" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">title</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">r</span><span class="s1">'$\sigma_i=15$'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">r</span></code> preceding the title string is important -- it signifies
that the string is a <em>raw</em> string and not to treat backslashes as
python escapes. matplotlib has a built-in TeX expression parser and
layout engine, and ships its own math fonts -- for details see
<a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/text/mathtext.html#mathtext"><span class="std std-ref">Writing mathematical expressions</span></a>. Thus, you can use mathematical text across
platforms without requiring a TeX installation. For those who have LaTeX
and dvipng installed, you can also use LaTeX to format your text and
incorporate the output directly into your display figures or saved
postscript -- see <a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/text/usetex.html#usetex"><span class="std std-ref">Text rendering with LaTeX</span></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="annotating-text">
<h3>Annotating text<a class="headerlink" href="#annotating-text" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>The uses of the basic <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.text.html#matplotlib.pyplot.text" title="matplotlib.pyplot.text"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">text</span></code></a> function above
place text at an arbitrary position on the Axes. A common use for
text is to annotate some feature of the plot, and the
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.annotate.html#matplotlib.pyplot.annotate" title="matplotlib.pyplot.annotate"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">annotate</span></code></a> method provides helper
functionality to make annotations easy. In an annotation, there are
two points to consider: the location being annotated represented by
the argument <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">xy</span></code> and the location of the text <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">xytext</span></code>. Both of
these arguments are <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">(x,</span> <span class="pre">y)</span></code> tuples.</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-axes sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">ax</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.arange.html#numpy.arange" title="numpy.arange" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">5.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">0.01</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">s</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ufunc.html#numpy.ufunc" title="numpy.ufunc" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cos</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="o">*</span><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#float" title="builtins.float" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-builtins sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pi</span></a><span class="o">*</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.lines.Line2D.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-lines sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">line</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">t</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">s</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">lw</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.annotate.html#matplotlib.pyplot.annotate" title="matplotlib.pyplot.annotate" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">annotate</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'local max'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">xy</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="n">xytext</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">1.5</span><span class="p">),</span>
<span class="n">arrowprops</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="nb">dict</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">facecolor</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'black'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">shrink</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">0.05</span><span class="p">),</span>
<span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.ylim.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ylim" title="matplotlib.pyplot.ylim" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ylim</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img src="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_009.png" srcset="../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_009.png, ../_images/sphx_glr_pyplot_009_2_00x.png 2.00x" alt="pyplot" class = "sphx-glr-single-img"/><p>In this basic example, both the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">xy</span></code> (arrow tip) and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">xytext</span></code>
locations (text location) are in data coordinates. There are a
variety of other coordinate systems one can choose -- see
<a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/text/annotations.html#annotations-tutorial"><span class="std std-ref">Basic annotation</span></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/text/annotations.html#plotting-guide-annotation"><span class="std std-ref">Advanced annotation</span></a> for
details. More examples can be found in
<a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/text_labels_and_annotations/annotation_demo.html"><span class="doc">Annotate plots</span></a>.</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="logarithmic-and-other-nonlinear-axes">
<h2>Logarithmic and other nonlinear axes<a class="headerlink" href="#logarithmic-and-other-nonlinear-axes" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="../api/pyplot_summary.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot</span></code></a> supports not only linear axis scales, but also
logarithmic and logit scales. This is commonly used if data spans many orders
of magnitude. Changing the scale of an axis is easy:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">xscale</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'log'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>An example of four plots with the same data and different scales for the y-axis
is shown below.</p>
<div class="highlight-Python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c1"># Fixing random state for reproducibility</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/random/generated/numpy.random.seed.html#numpy.random.seed" title="numpy.random.seed" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy-random sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">random</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">seed</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">19680801</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># make up some data in the open interval (0, 1)</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/random/generated/numpy.random.normal.html#numpy.random.normal" title="numpy.random.normal" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy-random sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">random</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">normal</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">loc</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">0.5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">scale</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">0.4</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">size</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">1000</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="p">[(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a> <span class="o">></span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">&</span> <span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a> <span class="o"><</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)]</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sort</span><span class="p">()</span>
<a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a> <span class="o">=</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.arange.html#numpy.arange" title="numpy.arange" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="nb">len</span><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="p">))</span>
<span class="c1"># plot with various axes scales</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span></a><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="c1"># linear</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">221</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.yscale.html#matplotlib.pyplot.yscale" title="matplotlib.pyplot.yscale" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">yscale</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'linear'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.title.html#matplotlib.pyplot.title" title="matplotlib.pyplot.title" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">title</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'linear'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.grid.html#matplotlib.pyplot.grid" title="matplotlib.pyplot.grid" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">grid</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># log</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">222</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.yscale.html#matplotlib.pyplot.yscale" title="matplotlib.pyplot.yscale" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">yscale</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'log'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.title.html#matplotlib.pyplot.title" title="matplotlib.pyplot.title" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">title</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'log'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.grid.html#matplotlib.pyplot.grid" title="matplotlib.pyplot.grid" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">grid</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># symmetric log</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">223</span><span class="p">)</span>
<a href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-matplotlib-pyplot sphx-glr-backref-type-py-function"><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span></a><span class="p">(</span><a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">x</span></a><span class="p">,</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a> <span class="o">-</span> <a href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ndarray.html#numpy.ndarray" title="numpy.ndarray" class="sphx-glr-backref-module-numpy sphx-glr-backref-type-py-class sphx-glr-backref-instance"><span class="n">y</span></a><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">mean</span><span class="p">())</span>