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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#including-figures-and-files">Including figures and files</a></li>
</ul>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#writing-docstrings">Writing docstrings</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#example-docstring">Example docstring</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#formatting-conventions">Formatting conventions</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#quote-positions">Quote positions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#id4">Function arguments</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#quotes-for-strings">Quotes for strings</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#parameter-type-descriptions">Parameter type descriptions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#referencing-types">Referencing types</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#default-values">Default values</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#see-also-sections"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">See</span> <span class="pre">also</span></code> sections</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#wrapping-parameter-lists">Wrapping parameter lists</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#rcparams">rcParams</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#setters-and-getters">Setters and getters</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#order-of-examples-in-the-gallery">Order of examples in the gallery</a></li>
</ul>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#miscellaneous">Miscellaneous</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#moving-documentation">Moving documentation</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#adding-animations">Adding animations</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#generating-inheritance-diagrams">Generating inheritance diagrams</a></li>
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<div class="section" id="writing-documentation">
<span id="documenting-matplotlib"></span><h1>Writing documentation<a class="headerlink" href="#writing-documentation" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="contents multicol-toc local topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title">Contents</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#getting-started" id="id7">Getting started</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#general-file-structure" id="id8">General file structure</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#setting-up-the-doc-build" id="id9">Setting up the doc build</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#building-the-docs" id="id10">Building the docs</a></li>
</ul>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#writing-rest-pages" id="id11">Writing ReST pages</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#formatting-and-style-conventions" id="id12">Formatting and style conventions</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#section-name-formatting" id="id13">Section name formatting</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#function-arguments" id="id14">Function arguments</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#referring-to-other-documents-and-sections" id="id15">Referring to other documents and sections</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#referring-to-other-code" id="id16">Referring to other code</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#including-figures-and-files" id="id17">Including figures and files</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#writing-docstrings" id="id18">Writing docstrings</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#example-docstring" id="id19">Example docstring</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#formatting-conventions" id="id20">Formatting conventions</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#quote-positions" id="id21">Quote positions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#id4" id="id22">Function arguments</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#quotes-for-strings" id="id23">Quotes for strings</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#parameter-type-descriptions" id="id24">Parameter type descriptions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#referencing-types" id="id25">Referencing types</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#default-values" id="id26">Default values</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#see-also-sections" id="id27"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">See</span> <span class="pre">also</span></code> sections</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#wrapping-parameter-lists" id="id28">Wrapping parameter lists</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#rcparams" id="id29">rcParams</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#setters-and-getters" id="id30">Setters and getters</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#keyword-arguments" id="id31">Keyword arguments</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#inheriting-docstrings" id="id32">Inheriting docstrings</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#adding-figures" id="id33">Adding figures</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#writing-examples-and-tutorials" id="id34">Writing examples and tutorials</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#references-for-sphinx-gallery" id="id35">References for sphinx-gallery</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#order-of-examples-in-the-gallery" id="id36">Order of examples in the gallery</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#miscellaneous" id="id37">Miscellaneous</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#moving-documentation" id="id38">Moving documentation</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#adding-animations" id="id39">Adding animations</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#generating-inheritance-diagrams" id="id40">Generating inheritance diagrams</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#emacs-helpers" id="id41">Emacs helpers</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="getting-started">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Getting started</a><a class="headerlink" href="#getting-started" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="general-file-structure">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">General file structure</a><a class="headerlink" href="#general-file-structure" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>All documentation is built from the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code>, <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tutorials/</span></code>, and
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">examples/</span></code> directories. The <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code> directory contains
configuration files for Sphinx and reStructuredText (<a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a>; <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code>) files
that are rendered to documentation pages.</p>
<p>The main entry point is <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/index.rst</span></code>, which pulls in the
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">index.rst</span></code> file for the users guide (<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/users</span></code>), developers
guide (<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/devel</span></code>), api reference (<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code>), and FAQs
(<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/faq</span></code>). The documentation suite is built as a single document in
order to make the most effective use of cross referencing.</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> also creates <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> files that are staged in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code> from
the docstrings of the classes in the Matplotlib library. Except for
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api/api_changes/</span></code>, these <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> files are created when the
documentation is built.</p>
<p>Similarly, the contents of <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/gallery</span></code> and <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/tutorials</span></code> are
generated by the <a class="reference external" href="https://sphinx-gallery.readthedocs.io/en/latest/">Sphinx Gallery</a> from the sources in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">examples/</span></code> and
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tutorials/</span></code>. These sources consist of python scripts that have <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a>
documentation built into their comments.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">Don't directly edit the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> files in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/gallery</span></code>,
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/tutorials</span></code>, and <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code> (excepting
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api/api_changes/</span></code>). <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> regenerates files in these
directories when building documentation.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="setting-up-the-doc-build">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Setting up the doc build</a><a class="headerlink" href="#setting-up-the-doc-build" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>The documentation for Matplotlib is generated from reStructuredText (<a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a>)
using the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> documentation generation tool.</p>
<p>To build the documentation you will need to
<a class="reference internal" href="development_setup.html#installing-for-devs"><span class="std std-ref">set up Matplotlib for development</span></a>. Note in
particular the <a class="reference internal" href="development_setup.html#doc-dependencies"><span class="std std-ref">additional dependencies</span></a> required to
build the documentation.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="building-the-docs">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Building the docs</a><a class="headerlink" href="#building-the-docs" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>The documentation sources are found in the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code> directory in the trunk.
The configuration file for Sphinx is <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/conf.py</span></code>. It controls which
directories Sphinx parses, how the docs are built, and how the extensions are
used. To build the documentation in html format, cd into <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code> and run:</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>make html
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Other useful invocations include</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c1"># Delete built files. May help if you get errors about missing paths or</span>
<span class="c1"># broken links.</span>
make clean
<span class="c1"># Build pdf docs.</span>
make latexpdf
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SPHINXOPTS</span></code> variable is set to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-W</span> <span class="pre">--keep-going</span></code> by default to build
the complete docs but exit with exit status 1 if there are warnings. To unset
it, use</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>make <span class="nv">SPHINXOPTS</span><span class="o">=</span> html
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>On Windows the arguments must be at the end of the statement:</p>
<div class="highlight-bat notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>make html SPHINXOPTS=
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You can use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">O</span></code> variable to set additional options:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">O=-j4</span> <span class="pre">html</span></code> runs a parallel build with 4 processes.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">O=-Dplot_formats=png:100</span> <span class="pre">html</span></code> saves figures in low resolution.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">O=-Dplot_gallery=0</span> <span class="pre">html</span></code> skips the gallery build.</li>
</ul>
<p>Multiple options can be combined using e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">O='-j4</span> <span class="pre">-Dplot_gallery=0'</span>
<span class="pre">html</span></code>.</p>
<p>On Windows, either use the format shown above or set options as environment variables, e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-bat notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">set</span> <span class="nv">O</span><span class="p">=</span>-W --keep-going -j4
make html
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="writing-rest-pages">
<span id="id1"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Writing ReST pages</a><a class="headerlink" href="#writing-rest-pages" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Most documentation is either in the docstring of individual
classes and methods, in explicit <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> files, or in examples and tutorials.
All of these use the <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a> syntax. Users should look at the <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a> documentation
for a full description. But some specific hints and conventions Matplotlib
uses are useful for creating documentation.</p>
<div class="section" id="formatting-and-style-conventions">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Formatting and style conventions</a><a class="headerlink" href="#formatting-and-style-conventions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>It is useful to strive for consistency in the Matplotlib documentation. Here
are some formatting and style conventions that are used.</p>
<div class="section" id="section-name-formatting">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Section name formatting</a><a class="headerlink" href="#section-name-formatting" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>For everything but top-level chapters, use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Upper</span> <span class="pre">lower</span></code> for
section titles, e.g., <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Possible</span> <span class="pre">hangups</span></code> rather than <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Possible</span>
<span class="pre">Hangups</span></code></p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="function-arguments">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Function arguments</a><a class="headerlink" href="#function-arguments" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Function arguments and keywords within docstrings should be referred to using
the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*emphasis*</span></code> role. This will keep Matplotlib's documentation consistent
with Python's documentation:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Here is a description of <span class="ge">*argument*</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Do not use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`default</span> <span class="pre">role`</span></code>:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Do not describe <span class="nv">`argument`</span> like this. As per the next section,
this syntax will (unsuccessfully) attempt to resolve the argument as a
link to a class or method in the library.
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>nor the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">``literal``</span></code> role:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Do not describe <span class="s">``argument``</span> like this.
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="referring-to-other-documents-and-sections">
<span id="internal-section-refs"></span><h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Referring to other documents and sections</a><a class="headerlink" href="#referring-to-other-documents-and-sections" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> allows internal <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/usage/restructuredtext/roles.html">references</a> between documents.</p>
<p>Documents can be linked with the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:doc:</span></code> directive:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>See the <span class="na">:doc:</span><span class="nv">`/faq/installing_faq`</span>
See the tutorial <span class="na">:doc:</span><span class="nv">`/tutorials/introductory/sample_plots`</span>
See the example <span class="na">:doc:</span><span class="nv">`/gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will render as:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>See the <a class="reference internal" href="../faq/installing_faq.html"><span class="doc">Installation</span></a></p>
<p>See the tutorial <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorials/introductory/sample_plots.html"><span class="doc">Sample plots in Matplotlib</span></a></p>
<p>See the example <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot.html"><span class="doc">Simple Plot</span></a></p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>Sections can also be given reference names. For instance from the
<a class="reference internal" href="../faq/installing_faq.html"><span class="doc">Installation</span></a> link:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="nt">_clean-install:</span>
<span class="gh">How to completely remove Matplotlib</span>
<span class="gh">===================================</span>
Occasionally, problems with Matplotlib can be solved with a clean...
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>and refer to it using the standard reference syntax:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>See <span class="na">:ref:</span><span class="nv">`clean-install`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will give the following link: <a class="reference internal" href="../faq/installing_faq.html#clean-install"><span class="std std-ref">How to completely remove Matplotlib</span></a></p>
<p>To maximize internal consistency in section labeling and references,
use hyphen separated, descriptive labels for section references.
Keep in mind that contents may be reorganized later, so
avoid top level names in references like <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">devel</span></code>
or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">faq</span></code> unless necessary, because for example the FAQ "what is a
backend?" could later become part of the users guide, so the label:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="nt">_what-is-a-backend:</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>is better than:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="nt">_faq-backend:</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>In addition, since underscores are widely used by Sphinx itself, use
hyphens to separate words.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="referring-to-other-code">
<span id="id2"></span><h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Referring to other code</a><a class="headerlink" href="#referring-to-other-code" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>To link to other methods, classes, or modules in Matplotlib you can use
back ticks, for example:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`matplotlib.collections.LineCollection`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>generates a link like this: <a class="reference internal" href="../api/collections_api.html#matplotlib.collections.LineCollection" title="matplotlib.collections.LineCollection"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.collections.LineCollection</span></code></a>.</p>
<p><em>Note:</em> We use the sphinx setting <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">default_role</span> <span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">'obj'</span></code> so that you don't
have to use qualifiers like <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:class:</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:func:</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:meth:</span></code> and the likes.</p>
<p>Often, you don't want to show the full package and module name. As long as the
target is unanbigous you can simply leave them out:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`.LineCollection`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>and the link still works: <a class="reference internal" href="../api/collections_api.html#matplotlib.collections.LineCollection" title="matplotlib.collections.LineCollection"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">LineCollection</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>If there are multiple code elements with the same name (e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot()</span></code> is a
method in multiple classes), you'll have to extend the definition:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`.pyplot.plot`</span> or <span class="nv">`.Axes.plot`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>These will show up as <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">pyplot.plot</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Axes.plot</span></code></a>. To still show only the
last segment you can add a tilde as prefix:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`~.pyplot.plot`</span> or <span class="nv">`~.Axes.plot`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will render as <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> or <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>Other packages can also be linked via
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/ext/intersphinx.html">intersphinx</a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`numpy.mean`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will return this link: <a class="reference external" href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.mean.html#numpy.mean" title="(in NumPy v1.20)"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">numpy.mean</span></code></a>. This works for Python, Numpy, Scipy,
and Pandas (full list is in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/conf.py</span></code>). If external linking fails,
you can check the full list of referenceable objects with the following
commands:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://docs.python.org/3/objects.inv'</span>
<span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/objects.inv'</span>
<span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/reference/objects.inv'</span>
<span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/objects.inv'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="including-figures-and-files">
<span id="rst-figures-and-includes"></span><h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Including figures and files</a><a class="headerlink" href="#including-figures-and-files" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Image files can directly included in pages with the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">image::</span></code> directive.
e.g., <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">thirdpartypackages/index.rst</span></code> displays the images for the third-party
packages as static images:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="o">..</span> <span class="n">image</span><span class="p">::</span> <span class="o">/</span><span class="n">_static</span><span class="o">/</span><span class="n">toolbar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">png</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>as rendered on the page: <a class="reference internal" href="../thirdpartypackages/index.html#thirdparty-index"><span class="std std-ref">Third party packages</span></a>.</p>
<p>Files can be included verbatim. For instance the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code> file
is important for customizing Matplotlib, and is included verbatim in the
tutorial in <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorials/introductory/customizing.html"><span class="doc">Customizing Matplotlib with style sheets and rcParams</span></a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="o">..</span> <span class="n">literalinclude</span><span class="p">::</span> <span class="o">../../</span><span class="n">_static</span><span class="o">/</span><span class="n">matplotlibrc</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This is rendered at the bottom of <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorials/introductory/customizing.html"><span class="doc">Customizing Matplotlib with style sheets and rcParams</span></a>.
Note that this is in a tutorial; see <a class="reference internal" href="#writing-examples-and-tutorials"><span class="std std-ref">Writing examples and tutorials</span></a>
below.</p>
<p>The examples directory is also copied to <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/gallery</span></code> by sphinx-gallery,
so plots from the examples directory can be included using</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="ow">plot</span><span class="p">::</span> gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot.py
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note that the python script that generates the plot is referred to, rather than
any plot that is created. Sphinx-gallery will provide the correct reference
when the documentation is built.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="writing-docstrings">
<span id="id3"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Writing docstrings</a><a class="headerlink" href="#writing-docstrings" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Most of the API documentation is written in docstrings. These are comment
blocks in source code that explain how the code works.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">Some parts of the documentation do not yet conform to the current
documentation style. If in doubt, follow the rules given here and not what
you may see in the source code. Pull requests updating docstrings to
the current style are very welcome.</p>
</div>
<p>All new or edited docstrings should conform to the <a class="reference external" href="https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html">numpydoc docstring guide</a>.
Much of the <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a> syntax discussed above (<a class="reference internal" href="#writing-rest-pages"><span class="std std-ref">Writing ReST pages</span></a>) can be
used for links and references. These docstrings eventually populate the
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code> directory and form the reference documentation for the
library.</p>
<div class="section" id="example-docstring">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Example docstring</a><a class="headerlink" href="#example-docstring" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>An example docstring looks like:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">hlines</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">y</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">xmin</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">xmax</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">colors</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'k'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">linestyles</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'solid'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">label</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">''</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">**</span><span class="n">kwargs</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd"> Plot horizontal lines at each *y* from *xmin* to *xmax*.</span>
<span class="sd"> Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------</span>
<span class="sd"> y : float or array-like</span>
<span class="sd"> y-indexes where to plot the lines.</span>
<span class="sd"> xmin, xmax : float or array-like</span>
<span class="sd"> Respective beginning and end of each line. If scalars are</span>
<span class="sd"> provided, all lines will have the same length.</span>
<span class="sd"> colors : array-like of colors, default: 'k'</span>
<span class="sd"> linestyles : {'solid', 'dashed', 'dashdot', 'dotted'}, default: 'solid'</span>
<span class="sd"> label : str, default: ''</span>
<span class="sd"> Returns</span>
<span class="sd"> -------</span>
<span class="sd"> lines : `~matplotlib.collections.LineCollection`</span>
<span class="sd"> Other Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------------</span>
<span class="sd"> **kwargs : `~matplotlib.collections.LineCollection` properties</span>
<span class="sd"> See also</span>
<span class="sd"> --------</span>
<span class="sd"> vlines : vertical lines</span>
<span class="sd"> axhline: horizontal line across the axes</span>
<span class="sd"> """</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>See the <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.hlines.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.hlines" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.hlines"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">hlines</span></code></a> documentation for how this renders.</p>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> website also contains plenty of <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/contents.html">documentation</a> concerning ReST
markup and working with Sphinx in general.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="formatting-conventions">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Formatting conventions</a><a class="headerlink" href="#formatting-conventions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>The basic docstring conventions are covered in the <a class="reference external" href="https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html">numpydoc docstring guide</a>
and the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> documentation. Some Matplotlib-specific formatting conventions
to keep in mind:</p>
<div class="section" id="quote-positions">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Quote positions</a><a class="headerlink" href="#quote-positions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>The quotes for single line docstrings are on the same line (pydocstyle D200):</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">get_linewidth</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""Return the line width in points."""</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The quotes for multi-line docstrings are on separate lines (pydocstyle D213):</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">set_linestyle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ls</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd">Set the linestyle of the line.</span>
<span class="sd">[...]</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="id4">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Function arguments</a><a class="headerlink" href="#id4" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Function arguments and keywords within docstrings should be referred to
using the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*emphasis*</span></code> role. This will keep Matplotlib's documentation
consistent with Python's documentation:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>If <span class="ge">*linestyles*</span> is <span class="ge">*None*</span>, the default is 'solid'.
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Do not use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`default</span> <span class="pre">role`</span></code> or the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">``literal``</span></code> role:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Neither <span class="nv">`argument`</span> nor <span class="s">``argument``</span> should be used.
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="quotes-for-strings">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Quotes for strings</a><a class="headerlink" href="#quotes-for-strings" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Matplotlib does not have a convention whether to use single-quotes or
double-quotes. There is a mixture of both in the current code.</p>
<p>Use simple single or double quotes when giving string values, e.g.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>If 'tight', try to figure out the tight bbox of the figure.
No <span class="s">``'extra'``</span> literal quotes.
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The use of extra literal quotes around the text is discouraged. While they
slightly improve the rendered docs, they are cumbersome to type and difficult
to read in plain-text docs.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="parameter-type-descriptions">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Parameter type descriptions</a><a class="headerlink" href="#parameter-type-descriptions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>The main goal for parameter type descriptions is to be readable and
understandable by humans. If the possible types are too complex use a
simplification for the type description and explain the type more
precisely in the text.</p>
<p>Generally, the <a class="reference external" href="https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html">numpydoc docstring guide</a> conventions apply. The following
rules expand on them where the numpydoc conventions are not specific.</p>
<p>Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">float</span></code> for a type that can be any number.</p>
<p>Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">(float,</span> <span class="pre">float)</span></code> to describe a 2D position. The parentheses should be
included to make the tuple-ness more obvious.</p>
<p>Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array-like</span></code> for homogeneous numeric sequences, which could
typically be a numpy.array. Dimensionality may be specified using <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">2D</span></code>,
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">3D</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">n-dimensional</span></code>. If you need to have variables denoting the
sizes of the dimensions, use capital letters in brackets
(<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">(M,</span> <span class="pre">N)</span> <span class="pre">array-like</span></code>). When referring to them in the text they are easier
read and no special formatting is needed. Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array</span></code> instead of
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array-like</span></code> for return types if the returned object is indeed a numpy array.</p>
<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">float</span></code> is the implicit default dtype for array-likes. For other dtypes
use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array-like</span> <span class="pre">of</span> <span class="pre">int</span></code>.</p>
<p>Some possible uses:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="n">D</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="p">(</span><span class="n">N</span><span class="p">,)</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="p">(</span><span class="n">M</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">N</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="p">(</span><span class="n">M</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">N</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span> <span class="n">of</span> <span class="nb">int</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Non-numeric homogeneous sequences are described as lists, e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>list of str
list of `.Artist`
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="referencing-types">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Referencing types</a><a class="headerlink" href="#referencing-types" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Generally, the rules from <a class="reference internal" href="#referring-to-other-code">referring-to-other-code</a> apply. More specifically:</p>
<p>Use full references <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`~matplotlib.colors.Normalize`</span></code> with an
abbreviation tilde in parameter types. While the full name helps the
reader of plain text docstrings, the HTML does not need to show the full
name as it links to it. Hence, the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~</span></code>-shortening keeps it more readable.</p>
<p>Use abbreviated links <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`.Normalize`</span></code> in the text.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>norm : <span class="nv">`~matplotlib.colors.Normalize`</span>, optional
A <span class="nv">`.Normalize`</span> instance is used to scale luminance data to 0, 1.
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="default-values">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Default values</a><a class="headerlink" href="#default-values" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>As opposed to the numpydoc guide, parameters need not be marked as
<em>optional</em> if they have a simple default:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">{name}</span> <span class="pre">:</span> <span class="pre">{type},</span> <span class="pre">default:</span> <span class="pre">{val}</span></code> when possible.</li>
<li>use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">{name}</span> <span class="pre">:</span> <span class="pre">{type},</span> <span class="pre">optional</span></code> and describe the default in the text if
it cannot be explained sufficiently in the recommended manner.</li>
</ul>
<p>The default value should provide semantic information targeted at a human
reader. In simple cases, it restates the value in the function signature.
If applicable, units should be added.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Prefer:
interval : int, default: 1000ms
over:
interval : int, default: 1000
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>If <em>None</em> is only used as a sentinel value for "parameter not specified", do
not document it as the default. Depending on the context, give the actual
default, or mark the parameter as optional if not specifying has no particular
effect.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Prefer:
dpi : float, default: <span class="na">:rc:</span><span class="nv">`figure.dpi`</span>
over:
dpi : float, default: None
Prefer:
textprops : dict, optional
Dictionary of keyword parameters to be passed to the
<span class="nv">`~matplotlib.text.Text`</span> instance contained inside TextArea.
over:
textprops : dict, default: None
Dictionary of keyword parameters to be passed to the
<span class="nv">`~matplotlib.text.Text`</span> instance contained inside TextArea.
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="see-also-sections">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">See</span> <span class="pre">also</span></code> sections</a><a class="headerlink" href="#see-also-sections" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Sphinx automatically links code elements in the definition blocks of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">See</span>
<span class="pre">also</span></code> sections. No need to use backticks there:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">See</span> <span class="n">also</span>
<span class="o">--------</span>
<span class="n">vlines</span> <span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">vertical</span> <span class="n">lines</span>
<span class="n">axhline</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">horizontal</span> <span class="n">line</span> <span class="n">across</span> <span class="n">the</span> <span class="n">axes</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="wrapping-parameter-lists">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Wrapping parameter lists</a><a class="headerlink" href="#wrapping-parameter-lists" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Long parameter lists should be wrapped using a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">\</span></code> for continuation and
starting on the new line without any indent (no indent because pydoc will
parse the docstring and strip the line continuation so that indent would
result in a lot of whitespace within the line):</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">add_axes</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">*</span><span class="n">args</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">**</span><span class="n">kwargs</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd"> ...</span>
<span class="sd"> Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------</span>
<span class="sd"> projection : {'aitoff', 'hammer', 'lambert', 'mollweide', 'polar', \</span>
<span class="sd">'rectilinear'}, optional</span>
<span class="sd"> The projection type of the axes.</span>
<span class="sd"> ...</span>
<span class="sd"> """</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Alternatively, you can describe the valid parameter values in a dedicated
section of the docstring.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="rcparams">
<h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">rcParams</a><a class="headerlink" href="#rcparams" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>rcParams can be referenced with the custom <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:rc:</span></code> role:
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:rc:`foo`</span></code> yields <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rcParams["foo"]</span> <span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">'default'</span></code>, which is a link
to the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code> file description.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="setters-and-getters">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Setters and getters</a><a class="headerlink" href="#setters-and-getters" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Artist properties are implemented using setter and getter methods (because
Matplotlib predates the introductions of the <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#property" title="(in Python v3.9)"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">property</span></code></a> decorator in Python).
By convention, these setters and getters are named <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">set_PROPERTYNAME</span></code> and
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">get_PROPERTYNAME</span></code>; the list of properties thusly defined on an artist and
their values can be listed by 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> and <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.getp.html#matplotlib.pyplot.getp" title="matplotlib.pyplot.getp"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getp</span></code></a> functions.</p>
<p>The Parameters block of property setter methods is parsed to document the
accepted values, e.g. the docstring of <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.lines.Line2D.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D.set_linestyle" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D.set_linestyle"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Line2D.set_linestyle</span></code></a> starts with</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">set_linestyle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ls</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd"> Set the linestyle of the line.</span>
<span class="sd"> Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------</span>
<span class="sd"> ls : {'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}</span>
<span class="sd"> etc.</span>
<span class="sd"> """</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>which results in the following line in the output of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plt.setp(line)</span></code> or
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plt.setp(line,</span> <span class="pre">"linestyle")</span></code>:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">linestyle</span> <span class="ow">or</span> <span class="n">ls</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="p">{</span><span class="s1">'-'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'--'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'-.'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">':'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">''</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">offset</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">on</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">off</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">seq</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">}</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>In some rare cases (mostly, setters which accept both a single tuple and an
unpacked tuple), the accepted values cannot be documented in such a fashion;
in that case, they can be documented as an <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">..</span> <span class="pre">ACCEPTS:</span></code> block, e.g. for
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_xlim.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_xlim" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_xlim"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">axes.Axes.set_xlim</span></code></a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">set_xlim</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd"> Set the x-axis view limits.</span>
<span class="sd"> Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------</span>
<span class="sd"> left : float, optional</span>
<span class="sd"> The left xlim in data coordinates. Passing *None* leaves the</span>
<span class="sd"> limit unchanged.</span>
<span class="sd"> The left and right xlims may also be passed as the tuple</span>
<span class="sd"> (*left*, *right*) as the first positional argument (or as</span>
<span class="sd"> the *left* keyword argument).</span>
<span class="sd"> .. ACCEPTS: (bottom: float, top: float)</span>
<span class="sd"> right : float, optional</span>
<span class="sd"> etc.</span>
<span class="sd"> """</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note that the leading <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">..</span></code> makes the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">..</span> <span class="pre">ACCEPTS:</span></code> block a reST comment,
hiding it from the rendered docs.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="keyword-arguments">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Keyword arguments</a><a class="headerlink" href="#keyword-arguments" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">The information in this section is being actively discussed by the
development team, so use the docstring interpolation only if necessary.
This section has been left in place for now because this interpolation
is part of the existing documentation.</p>
</div>
<p>Since Matplotlib uses a lot of pass-through <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">kwargs</span></code>, e.g., in every function
that creates a line (<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>, <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.semilogx.html#matplotlib.pyplot.semilogx" title="matplotlib.pyplot.semilogx"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">semilogx</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.semilogy.html#matplotlib.pyplot.semilogy" title="matplotlib.pyplot.semilogy"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">semilogy</span></code></a>,
etc...), it can be difficult for the new user to know which <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">kwargs</span></code> are
supported. Matplotlib uses a docstring interpolation scheme to support
documentation of every function that takes a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">**kwargs</span></code>. The requirements
are:</p>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li>single point of configuration so changes to the properties don't
require multiple docstring edits.</li>
<li>as automated as possible so that as properties change, the docs
are updated automatically.</li>
</ol>
<p>The function <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.artist.kwdoc.html#matplotlib.artist.kwdoc" title="matplotlib.artist.kwdoc"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.artist.kwdoc</span></code></a> and the decorator
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.docstring.dedent_interpd</span></code> facilitate this. They combine Python
string interpolation in the docstring with the Matplotlib artist introspection
facility that underlies <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setp</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getp</span></code>. The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">kwdoc</span></code> function gives
the list of properties as a docstring. In order to use this in another
docstring, first update the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.docstring.interpd</span></code> object, as seen in
this example from <a class="reference internal" href="../api/lines_api.html#module-matplotlib.lines" title="matplotlib.lines"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.lines</span></code></a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c1"># in lines.py</span>
<span class="n">docstring</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">interpd</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">update</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">Line2D_kwdoc</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">artist</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">kwdoc</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">Line2D</span><span class="p">))</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Then in any function accepting <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> pass-through <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">kwargs</span></code>, e.g.,
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot</span></code></a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c1"># in axes.py</span>
<span class="nd">@docstring</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dedent_interpd</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">plot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">*</span><span class="n">args</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">**</span><span class="n">kwargs</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd"> Some stuff omitted</span>
<span class="sd"> Other Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------------</span>
<span class="sd"> scalex, scaley : bool, default: True</span>
<span class="sd"> These parameters determine if the view limits are adapted to the</span>
<span class="sd"> data limits. The values are passed on to `autoscale_view`.</span>
<span class="sd"> **kwargs : `.Line2D` properties, optional</span>
<span class="sd"> *kwargs* are used to specify properties like a line label (for</span>
<span class="sd"> auto legends), linewidth, antialiasing, marker face color.</span>
<span class="sd"> Example::</span>
<span class="sd"> >>> plot([1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3], 'go-', label='line 1', linewidth=2)</span>
<span class="sd"> >>> plot([1, 2, 3], [1, 4, 9], 'rs', label='line 2')</span>
<span class="sd"> If you specify multiple lines with one plot call, the kwargs apply</span>
<span class="sd"> to all those lines. In case the label object is iterable, each</span>
<span class="sd"> element is used as labels for each set of data.</span>
<span class="sd"> Here is a list of available `.Line2D` properties:</span>
<span class="sd"> %(Line2D_kwdoc)s</span>
<span class="sd"> """</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note there is a problem for <a class="reference internal" href="../api/artist_api.html#matplotlib.artist.Artist" title="matplotlib.artist.Artist"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Artist</span></code></a> <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__init__</span></code> methods,
e.g., <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.patches.Patch.html#matplotlib.patches.Patch.__init__" title="matplotlib.patches.Patch.__init__"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.patches.Patch.__init__</span></code></a>, which supports <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Patch</span></code> <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">kwargs</span></code>,
since the artist inspector cannot work until the class is fully defined and
we can't modify the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Patch.__init__.__doc__</span></code> docstring outside the class
definition. There are some some manual hacks in this case, violating the
"single entry point" requirement above -- see the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">docstring.interpd.update</span></code>
calls in <a class="reference internal" href="../api/patches_api.html#module-matplotlib.patches" title="matplotlib.patches"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.patches</span></code></a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="inheriting-docstrings">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Inheriting docstrings</a><a class="headerlink" href="#inheriting-docstrings" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>If a subclass overrides a method but does not change the semantics, we can
reuse the parent docstring for the method of the child class. Python does this
automatically, if the subclass method does not have a docstring.</p>
<p>Use a plain comment <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">#</span> <span class="pre">docstring</span> <span class="pre">inherited</span></code> to denote the intention to reuse
the parent docstring. That way we do not accidentally create a docstring in
the future:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">class</span> <span class="nc">A</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">foo</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="sd">"""The parent docstring."""</span>
<span class="k">pass</span>
<span class="k">class</span> <span class="nc">B</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">A</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">foo</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="c1"># docstring inherited</span>
<span class="k">pass</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="adding-figures">
<span id="docstring-adding-figures"></span><h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Adding figures</a><a class="headerlink" href="#adding-figures" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>As above (see <a class="reference internal" href="#rst-figures-and-includes"><span class="std std-ref">Including figures and files</span></a>), figures in the examples gallery
can be referenced with a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:plot:</span></code> directive pointing to the python script
that created the figure. For instance the <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.legend.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.legend" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.legend"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">legend</span></code></a> docstring references
the file <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">examples/text_labels_and_annotations/legend.py</span></code>:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd">...</span>
<span class="sd">Examples</span>
<span class="sd">--------</span>
<span class="sd">.. plot:: gallery/text_labels_and_annotations/legend.py</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">examples/text_labels_and_annotations/legend.py</span></code> has been mapped to
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gallery/text_labels_and_annotations/legend.py</span></code>, a redirection that may be
fixed in future re-organization of the docs.</p>
<p>Plots can also be directly placed inside docstrings. Details are in
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/sphinxext_plot_directive_api.html"><span class="doc">matplotlib.sphinxext.plot_directive</span></a>. A short example is:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd">...</span>
<span class="sd">Examples</span>
<span class="sd">--------</span>
<span class="sd">.. plot::</span>
<span class="sd"> import matplotlib.image as mpimg</span>
<span class="sd"> img = mpimg.imread('_static/stinkbug.png')</span>
<span class="sd"> imgplot = plt.imshow(img)</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>An advantage of this style over referencing an example script is that the
code will also appear in interactive docstrings.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="writing-examples-and-tutorials">
<span id="id5"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Writing examples and tutorials</a><a class="headerlink" href="#writing-examples-and-tutorials" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Examples and tutorials are python scripts that are run by <a class="reference external" href="https://sphinx-gallery.readthedocs.io/en/latest/">Sphinx Gallery</a>
to create a gallery of images in the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/doc/gallery</span></code> and
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/doc/tutorials</span></code> directories respectively. To exclude an example
from having an plot generated insert "sgskip" somewhere in the filename.</p>
<p>The format of these files is relatively straightforward. Properly
formatted comment blocks are treated as <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a> text, the code is
displayed, and figures are put into the built page.</p>
<p>For instance the example <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot.html"><span class="doc">Simple Plot</span></a>
example is generated from
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/examples/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot.py</span></code>, which looks like:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd">===========</span>
<span class="sd">Simple Plot</span>
<span class="sd">===========</span>
<span class="sd">Create a simple plot.</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">matplotlib.pyplot</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="nn">plt</span>
<span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">numpy</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="nn">np</span>
<span class="c1"># Data for plotting</span>
<span class="n">t</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">2.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">0.01</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">s</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">1</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sin</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span> <span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pi</span> <span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">t</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="c1"># Note that using plt.subplots below is equivalent to using</span>
<span class="c1"># fig = plt.figure and then ax = fig.add_subplot(111)</span>
<span class="n">fig</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ax</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplots</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">t</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">s</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">xlabel</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'time (s)'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ylabel</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'voltage (mV)'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">title</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'About as simple as it gets, folks'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">grid</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The first comment block is treated as <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">ReST</a> text. The other comment blocks
render as comments in <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot.html"><span class="doc">Simple Plot</span></a>.</p>
<p>Tutorials are made with the exact same mechanism, except they are longer, and
typically have more than one comment block (i.e.
<a class="reference internal" href="../tutorials/introductory/usage.html"><span class="doc">Usage Guide</span></a>). The first comment block
can be the same as the example above. Subsequent blocks of ReST text
are delimited by a line of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">###</span></code> characters:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd">===========</span>
<span class="sd">Simple Plot</span>
<span class="sd">===========</span>
<span class="sd">Create a simple plot.</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="o">...</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">grid</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">show</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="c1">##########################################################################</span>
<span class="c1"># Second plot</span>
<span class="c1"># ===========</span>
<span class="c1">#</span>
<span class="c1"># This is a second plot that is very nice</span>
<span class="n">fig</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ax</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplots</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sin</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="nb">range</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">)))</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>In this way text, code, and figures are output in a "notebook" style.</p>
<div class="section" id="references-for-sphinx-gallery">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">References for sphinx-gallery</a><a class="headerlink" href="#references-for-sphinx-gallery" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>The showcased Matplotlib functions should be listed in an admonition at the
bottom as follows</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c1">###############################################################################</span>
<span class="c1">#</span>
<span class="c1"># .. admonition:: References</span>
<span class="c1">#</span>
<span class="c1"># The use of the following functions, methods, classes and modules is shown</span>
<span class="c1"># in this example:</span>
<span class="c1">#</span>
<span class="c1"># - `matplotlib.axes.Axes.fill` / `matplotlib.pyplot.fill`</span>
<span class="c1"># - `matplotlib.axes.Axes.axis` / `matplotlib.pyplot.axis`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This allows sphinx-gallery to place an entry to the example in the
mini-gallery of the mentioned functions. Whether or not a function is mentioned
here should be decided depending on if a mini-gallery link prominently helps
to illustrate that function; e.g. mention <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot.subplots</span></code> only
in examples that are about laying out subplots, not in every example that uses
it.</p>
<p>Functions that exist in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot</span></code> as well as in Axes or Figure should mention
both references no matter which one is used in the example code. The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot</span></code>
reference should always be the second to mention; see the example above.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="order-of-examples-in-the-gallery">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Order of examples in the gallery</a><a class="headerlink" href="#order-of-examples-in-the-gallery" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>The order of the sections of the <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorials/index.html#tutorials"><span class="std std-ref">Tutorials</span></a> and the <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/index.html#gallery"><span class="std std-ref">Gallery</span></a>, as
well as the order of the examples within each section are determined in a
two step process from within the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/doc/sphinxext/gallery_order.py</span></code>:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><em>Explicit order</em>: This file contains a list of folders for the section order
and a list of examples for the subsection order. The order of the items
shown in the doc pages is the order those items appear in those lists.</li>
<li><em>Implicit order</em>: If a folder or example is not in those lists, it will be
appended after the explicitly ordered items and all of those additional
items will be ordered by pathname (for the sections) or by filename
(for the subsections).</li>
</ul>
<p>As a consequence, if you want to let your example appear in a certain
position in the gallery, extend those lists with your example.
In case no explicit order is desired or necessary, still make sure
to name your example consistently, i.e. use the main function or subject
of the example as first word in the filename; e.g. an image example
should ideally be named similar to <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">imshow_mynewexample.py</span></code>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="miscellaneous">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Miscellaneous</a><a class="headerlink" href="#miscellaneous" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="moving-documentation">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#contents">Moving documentation</a><a class="headerlink" href="#moving-documentation" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Sometimes it is desirable to move or consolidate documentation. With no