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<section id="frequently-asked-questions">
<span id="howto-faq"></span><h1>Frequently Asked Questions<a class="headerlink" href="#frequently-asked-questions" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h1>
<section id="i-don-t-see-a-figure-window">
<span id="how-do-no-figure"></span><h2>I don't see a figure window<a class="headerlink" href="#i-don-t-see-a-figure-window" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Please see <a class="reference internal" href="explain/figure/backends.html#figures-not-showing"><span class="std std-ref">Debugging the figure windows not showing</span></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="why-do-i-have-so-many-ticks-and-or-why-are-they-out-of-order">
<span id="how-to-too-many-ticks"></span><h2>Why do I have so many ticks, and/or why are they out of order?<a class="headerlink" href="#why-do-i-have-so-many-ticks-and-or-why-are-they-out-of-order" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>One common cause for unexpected tick behavior is passing a <em>list of strings
instead of numbers or datetime objects</em>. This can easily happen without notice
when reading in a comma-delimited text file. Matplotlib treats lists of strings
as <em>categorical</em> variables
(<a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/categorical_variables.html"><span class="doc">Plotting categorical variables</span></a>), and by default
puts one tick per category, and plots them in the order in which they are
supplied.</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></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="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="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">layout</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'constrained'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">figsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">6</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">))</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_title</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Ticks seem out of order / misplaced'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">x</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'5'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'20'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'1'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'9'</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="c1"># strings</span>
<span class="n">y</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">20</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">9</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">y</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'d'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">tick_params</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">axis</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'x'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">labelcolor</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'red'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">labelsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">14</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_title</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Many ticks'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">x</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">xx</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">xx</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">100</span><span class="p">)]</span> <span class="c1"># strings</span>
<span class="n">y</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="mi">100</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">y</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">tick_params</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">axis</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'x'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">labelcolor</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'red'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">labelsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">14</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>(<a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../_downloads/5a1bd6b33d2fad4b4fde85b7d0324aa9/faq-1.py"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Source</span> <span class="pre">code</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../_downloads/156cbc0e2a724bcbf8ea4dfbca668dcd/faq-1.2x.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">2x.png</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../_downloads/e7ff1e5d25c51f435350824e98cb7d73/faq-1.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">png</span></code></a>)</p>
<figure class="align-center">
<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../_images/users-faq-1.2x.png">
<img src="../_images/users-faq-1.png" style="" srcset="../_images/users-faq-1.png, ../_images/users-faq-1.2x.png 2.00x" alt="" class="plot-directive"/>
</a>
</figure>
<p>The solution is to convert the list of strings to numbers or
datetime objects (often <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">np.asarray(numeric_strings,</span> <span class="pre">dtype='float')</span></code> or
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">np.asarray(datetime_strings,</span> <span class="pre">dtype='datetime64[s]')</span></code>).</p>
<p>For more information see <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/ticks/ticks_too_many.html"><span class="doc">Fixing too many ticks</span></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="determine-the-extent-of-artists-in-the-figure">
<span id="howto-determine-artist-extent"></span><h2>Determine the extent of Artists in the Figure<a class="headerlink" href="#determine-the-extent-of-artists-in-the-figure" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Sometimes we want to know the extent of an Artist. Matplotlib <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> objects
have a method <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.artist.Artist.get_window_extent.html#matplotlib.artist.Artist.get_window_extent" title="matplotlib.artist.Artist.get_window_extent"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Artist.get_window_extent</span></code></a> that will usually return the extent of
the artist in pixels. However, some artists, in particular text, must be
rendered at least once before their extent is known. Matplotlib supplies
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.figure.Figure.draw_without_rendering.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.draw_without_rendering" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.draw_without_rendering"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure.draw_without_rendering</span></code></a>, which should be called before calling
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">get_window_extent</span></code>.</p>
</section>
<section id="check-whether-a-figure-is-empty">
<span id="howto-figure-empty"></span><h2>Check whether a figure is empty<a class="headerlink" href="#check-whether-a-figure-is-empty" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Empty can actually mean different things. Does the figure contain any artists?
Does a figure with an empty <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> still count as empty? Is the figure
empty if it was rendered pure white (there may be artists present, but they
could be outside the drawing area or transparent)?</p>
<p>For the purpose here, we define empty as: "The figure does not contain any
artists except it's background patch." The exception for the background is
necessary, because by default every figure contains a <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.patches.Rectangle.html#matplotlib.patches.Rectangle" title="matplotlib.patches.Rectangle"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Rectangle</span></code></a> as it's
background patch. This definition could be checked via:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">is_empty</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">figure</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd"> Return whether the figure contains no Artists (other than the default</span>
<span class="sd"> background patch).</span>
<span class="sd"> """</span>
<span class="n">contained_artists</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">figure</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_children</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="nb">len</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">contained_artists</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o"><=</span> <span class="mi">1</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>We've decided not to include this as a figure method because this is only one
way of defining empty, and checking the above is only rarely necessary.
Usually the user or program handling the figure know if they have added
something to the figure.</p>
<p>The only reliable way to check whether a figure would render empty is to
actually perform such a rendering and inspect the result.</p>
</section>
<section id="find-all-objects-in-a-figure-of-a-certain-type">
<span id="howto-findobj"></span><h2>Find all objects in a figure of a certain type<a class="headerlink" href="#find-all-objects-in-a-figure-of-a-certain-type" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Every Matplotlib artist (see <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorials/artists.html#artists-tutorial"><span class="std std-ref">Artist tutorial</span></a>) has a method
called <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.artist.Artist.findobj.html#matplotlib.artist.Artist.findobj" title="matplotlib.artist.Artist.findobj"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">findobj()</span></code></a> that can be used to
recursively search the artist for any artists it may contain that meet
some criteria (e.g., match all <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.lines.Line2D.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Line2D</span></code></a>
instances or match some arbitrary filter function). For example, the
following snippet finds every object in the figure which has a
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">set_color</span></code> property and makes the object blue:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">myfunc</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="nb">hasattr</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'set_color'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">o</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">findobj</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">myfunc</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">o</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_color</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'blue'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You can also filter on class instances:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">matplotlib.text</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="nn">text</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">o</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">findobj</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">text</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Text</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">o</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_fontstyle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'italic'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="prevent-ticklabels-from-having-an-offset">
<span id="howto-suppress-offset"></span><h2>Prevent ticklabels from having an offset<a class="headerlink" href="#prevent-ticklabels-from-having-an-offset" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>The default formatter will use an offset to reduce
the length of the ticklabels. To turn this feature
off on a per-axis basis:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">xaxis</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_major_formatter</span><span class="p">()</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_useOffset</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="kc">False</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>set <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><a class="reference internal" href="explain/customizing.html?highlight=axes.formatter.useoffset#matplotlibrc-sample"><span class="std std-ref"><span class="pre">rcParams["axes.formatter.useoffset"]</span></span></a></code> (default: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code>), or use a different
formatter. See <a class="reference internal" href="../api/ticker_api.html#module-matplotlib.ticker" title="matplotlib.ticker"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ticker</span></code></a> for details.</p>
</section>
<section id="save-transparent-figures">
<span id="howto-transparent"></span><h2>Save transparent figures<a class="headerlink" href="#save-transparent-figures" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.savefig.html#matplotlib.pyplot.savefig" title="matplotlib.pyplot.savefig"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">savefig()</span></code></a> command has a keyword argument
<em>transparent</em> which, if 'True', will make the figure and axes
backgrounds transparent when saving, but will not affect the displayed
image on the screen.</p>
<p>If you need finer grained control, e.g., you do not want full transparency
or you want to affect the screen displayed version as well, you can set
the alpha properties directly. The figure has a
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.patches.Rectangle.html#matplotlib.patches.Rectangle" title="matplotlib.patches.Rectangle"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Rectangle</span></code></a> instance called <em>patch</em>
and the axes has a Rectangle instance called <em>patch</em>. You can set
any property on them directly (<em>facecolor</em>, <em>edgecolor</em>, <em>linewidth</em>,
<em>linestyle</em>, <em>alpha</em>). e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">fig</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">patch</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_alpha</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.5</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">add_subplot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">111</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">patch</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_alpha</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.5</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>If you need <em>all</em> the figure elements to be transparent, there is
currently no global alpha setting, but you can set the alpha channel
on individual elements, e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">y</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">alpha</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">0.5</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_xlabel</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'volts'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">alpha</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">0.5</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="save-multiple-plots-to-one-pdf-file">
<span id="howto-multipage"></span><h2>Save multiple plots to one pdf file<a class="headerlink" href="#save-multiple-plots-to-one-pdf-file" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Many image file formats can only have one image per file, but some formats
support multi-page files. Currently, Matplotlib only provides multi-page
output to pdf files, using either the pdf or pgf backends, via the
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/backend_pdf_api.html#matplotlib.backends.backend_pdf.PdfPages" title="matplotlib.backends.backend_pdf.PdfPages"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">backend_pdf.PdfPages</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="../api/backend_pgf_api.html#matplotlib.backends.backend_pgf.PdfPages" title="matplotlib.backends.backend_pgf.PdfPages"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">backend_pgf.PdfPages</span></code></a> classes.</p>
</section>
<section id="make-room-for-tick-labels">
<span id="howto-auto-adjust"></span><h2>Make room for tick labels<a class="headerlink" href="#make-room-for-tick-labels" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>By default, Matplotlib uses fixed percentage margins around subplots. This can
lead to labels overlapping or being cut off at the figure boundary. There are
multiple ways to fix this:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Manually adapt the subplot parameters using <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.figure.Figure.subplots_adjust.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.subplots_adjust" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.subplots_adjust"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure.subplots_adjust</span></code></a> /
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplots_adjust.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplots_adjust" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplots_adjust"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot.subplots_adjust</span></code></a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Use one of the automatic layout mechanisms:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>constrained layout (<a class="reference internal" href="explain/axes/constrainedlayout_guide.html#constrainedlayout-guide"><span class="std std-ref">Constrained layout guide</span></a>)</p></li>
<li><p>tight layout (<a class="reference internal" href="explain/axes/tight_layout_guide.html#tight-layout-guide"><span class="std std-ref">Tight layout guide</span></a>)</p></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p>Calculate good values from the size of the plot elements yourself
(<a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/auto_subplots_adjust.html"><span class="doc">Programmatically controlling subplot adjustment</span></a>)</p></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="align-my-ylabels-across-multiple-subplots">
<span id="howto-align-label"></span><h2>Align my ylabels across multiple subplots<a class="headerlink" href="#align-my-ylabels-across-multiple-subplots" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>If you have multiple subplots over one another, and the y data have
different scales, you can often get ylabels that do not align
vertically across the multiple subplots, which can be unattractive.
By default, Matplotlib positions the x location of the ylabel so that
it does not overlap any of the y ticks. You can override this default
behavior by specifying the coordinates of the label. To learn how, see
<a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/text_labels_and_annotations/align_ylabels.html"><span class="doc">Align y-labels</span></a></p>
</section>
<section id="control-the-draw-order-of-plot-elements">
<span id="howto-set-zorder"></span><h2>Control the draw order of plot elements<a class="headerlink" href="#control-the-draw-order-of-plot-elements" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>The draw order of plot elements, and thus which elements will be on top, is
determined by the <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.artist.Artist.set_zorder.html#matplotlib.artist.Artist.set_zorder" title="matplotlib.artist.Artist.set_zorder"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">set_zorder</span></code></a> property.
See <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/misc/zorder_demo.html"><span class="doc">Zorder Demo</span></a> for a detailed description.</p>
</section>
<section id="make-the-aspect-ratio-for-plots-equal">
<span id="howto-axis-equal"></span><h2>Make the aspect ratio for plots equal<a class="headerlink" href="#make-the-aspect-ratio-for-plots-equal" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>The Axes property <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_aspect.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_aspect" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_aspect"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">set_aspect()</span></code></a> controls the
aspect ratio of the axes. You can set it to be 'auto', 'equal', or
some ratio which controls the ratio:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">ax</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">add_subplot</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">111</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">aspect</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'equal'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>See <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/axis_equal_demo.html"><span class="doc">Equal axis aspect ratio</span></a> for a
complete example.</p>
</section>
<section id="draw-multiple-y-axis-scales">
<span id="howto-twoscale"></span><h2>Draw multiple y-axis scales<a class="headerlink" href="#draw-multiple-y-axis-scales" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>A frequent request is to have two scales for the left and right
y-axis, which is possible using <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.twinx.html#matplotlib.pyplot.twinx" title="matplotlib.pyplot.twinx"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">twinx()</span></code></a> (more
than two scales are not currently supported, though it is on the wish
list). This works pretty well, though there are some quirks when you
are trying to interactively pan and zoom, because both scales do not get
the signals.</p>
<p>The approach uses <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.twinx.html#matplotlib.pyplot.twinx" title="matplotlib.pyplot.twinx"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">twinx()</span></code></a> (and its sister
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.twiny.html#matplotlib.pyplot.twiny" title="matplotlib.pyplot.twiny"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">twiny()</span></code></a>) to use <em>2 different axes</em>,
turning the axes rectangular frame off on the 2nd axes to keep it from
obscuring the first, and manually setting the tick locs and labels as
desired. You can use separate <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.ticker</span></code> formatters and
locators as desired because the two axes are independent.</p>
<p>(<a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../_downloads/44b5432bcc59ab8b9b8a6545b0ae281f/faq-2.py"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Source</span> <span class="pre">code</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../_downloads/5b35eae77b9d97177298700c52e5d640/faq-2.2x.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">2x.png</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../_downloads/f55704b6a74aaf141da69633eba9787e/faq-2.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">png</span></code></a>)</p>
<figure class="align-center">
<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../_images/users-faq-2.2x.png">
<img src="../_images/users-faq-2.png" style="" srcset="../_images/users-faq-2.png, ../_images/users-faq-2.2x.png 2.00x" alt="" class="plot-directive"/>
</a>
</figure>
<p>See <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/two_scales.html"><span class="doc">Plots with different scales</span></a> for a
complete example.</p>
</section>
<section id="generate-images-without-having-a-window-appear">
<span id="howto-batch"></span><h2>Generate images without having a window appear<a class="headerlink" href="#generate-images-without-having-a-window-appear" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Simply do not call <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.show.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show" title="matplotlib.pyplot.show"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">show</span></code></a>, and directly save the figure to
the desired format:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">matplotlib.pyplot</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="nn">plt</span>
<span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">plot</span><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="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">savefig</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'myfig.png'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/user_interfaces/web_application_server_sgskip.html"><span class="doc">Embedding in a web application server (Flask)</span></a> for
information about running matplotlib inside of a web application.</p>
</div>
</section>
<section id="work-with-threads">
<span id="how-to-threads"></span><h2>Work with threads<a class="headerlink" href="#work-with-threads" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Matplotlib is not thread-safe: in fact, there are known race conditions
that affect certain artists. Hence, if you work with threads, it is your
responsibility to set up the proper locks to serialize access to Matplotlib
artists.</p>
<p>You may be able to work on separate figures from separate threads. However,
you must in that case use a <em>non-interactive backend</em> (typically Agg), because
most GUI backends <em>require</em> being run from the main thread as well.</p>
</section>
<section id="get-help">
<span id="reporting-problems"></span><span id="id1"></span><h2>Get help<a class="headerlink" href="#get-help" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>There are a number of good resources for getting help with Matplotlib.
There is a good chance your question has already been asked:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://discourse.matplotlib.org/c/community/matplotlib-users/6">mailing list archive</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues">GitHub issues</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Stackoverflow questions tagged <a class="reference external" href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/matplotlib">matplotlib</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If you are unable to find an answer to your question through search, please
provide the following information in your e-mail to the <a class="reference external" href="https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/matplotlib-users">mailing list</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Your operating system (Linux/Unix users: post the output of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">uname</span> <span class="pre">-a</span></code>).</p></li>
<li><p>Matplotlib version:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">c</span> <span class="s2">"import matplotlib; print(matplotlib.__version__)"</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p>Where you obtained Matplotlib (e.g., your Linux distribution's packages,
GitHub, PyPI, or <a class="reference external" href="https://www.anaconda.com/">Anaconda</a>).</p></li>
<li><p>Any customizations to your <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code> file (see
<a class="reference internal" href="explain/customizing.html#customizing"><span class="std std-ref">Customizing Matplotlib with style sheets and rcParams</span></a>).</p></li>
<li><p>If the problem is reproducible, please try to provide a <em>minimal</em>, standalone
Python script that demonstrates the problem. This is <em>the</em> critical step.
If you can't post a piece of code that we can run and reproduce your error,
the chances of getting help are significantly diminished. Very often, the
mere act of trying to minimize your code to the smallest bit that produces
the error will help you find a bug in <em>your</em> code that is causing the
problem.</p></li>
<li><p>Matplotlib provides debugging information through the <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.html#module-logging" title="(in Python v3.12)"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">logging</span></code></a> library, and
a helper function to set the logging level: one can call</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_loglevel</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"info"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># or "debug" for more info</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>to obtain this debugging information.</p>
<p>Standard functions from the <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.html#module-logging" title="(in Python v3.12)"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">logging</span></code></a> module are also applicable; e.g. one
could call <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">logging.basicConfig(level="DEBUG")</span></code> even before importing
Matplotlib (this is in particular necessary to get the logging info emitted
during Matplotlib's import), or attach a custom handler to the "matplotlib"
logger. This may be useful if you use a custom logging configuration.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>If you compiled Matplotlib yourself, please also provide:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>your compiler version -- e.g., <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gcc</span> <span class="pre">--version</span></code>.</p></li>
<li><p>the output of:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">pip</span> <span class="n">install</span> <span class="o">--</span><span class="n">verbose</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The beginning of the build output contains lots of details about your
platform that are useful for the Matplotlib developers to diagnose your
problem.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>If you compiled an older version of Matplotlib using the pre-Meson build system, instead
provide:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>any changes you have made to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code>/<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setupext.py</span></code>,</p></li>
<li><p>the output of:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">rm</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">rf</span> <span class="n">build</span>
<span class="n">python</span> <span class="n">setup</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">py</span> <span class="n">build</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Including this information in your first e-mail to the mailing list
will save a lot of time.</p>
<p>You will likely get a faster response writing to the mailing list than
filing a bug in the bug tracker. Most developers check the bug
tracker only periodically. If your problem has been determined to be
a bug and cannot be quickly solved, you may be asked to file a bug in
the tracker so the issue doesn't get lost.</p>
</section>
</section>
</article>
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<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#i-don-t-see-a-figure-window">I don't see a figure window</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#why-do-i-have-so-many-ticks-and-or-why-are-they-out-of-order">Why do I have so many ticks, and/or why are they out of order?</a></li>
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<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#prevent-ticklabels-from-having-an-offset">Prevent ticklabels from having an offset</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#save-transparent-figures">Save transparent figures</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#save-multiple-plots-to-one-pdf-file">Save multiple plots to one pdf file</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#make-room-for-tick-labels">Make room for tick labels</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#align-my-ylabels-across-multiple-subplots">Align my ylabels across multiple subplots</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#control-the-draw-order-of-plot-elements">Control the draw order of plot elements</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#make-the-aspect-ratio-for-plots-equal">Make the aspect ratio for plots equal</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#draw-multiple-y-axis-scales">Draw multiple y-axis scales</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#generate-images-without-having-a-window-appear">Generate images without having a window appear</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#work-with-threads">Work with threads</a></li>
<li class="toc-h2 nav-item toc-entry"><a class="reference internal nav-link" href="#get-help">Get help</a></li>
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