.. _pylab_examples-zorder_demo: pylab_examples example code: zorder_demo.py =========================================== .. plot:: /home/tcaswell/other_source/matplotlib/doc/mpl_examples/pylab_examples/zorder_demo.py :: #!/usr/bin/env python """ The default drawing order for axes is patches, lines, text. This order is determined by the zorder attribute. The following defaults are set Artist Z-order Patch / PatchCollection 1 Line2D / LineCollection 2 Text 3 You can change the order for individual artists by setting the zorder. Any individual plot() call can set a value for the zorder of that particular item. In the fist subplot below, the lines are drawn above the patch collection from the scatter, which is the default. In the subplot below, the order is reversed. The second figure shows how to control the zorder of individual lines. """ from pylab import * x = rand(20); y = rand(20) subplot(211) plot(x, y, 'r', lw=3) scatter(x,y,s=120) subplot(212) plot(x, y, 'r', zorder=1, lw=3) scatter(x,y,s=120, zorder=2) # A new figure, with individually ordered items x=frange(0,2*pi,npts=100) figure() plot(x,sin(x),linewidth=10, color='black',label='zorder=10',zorder = 10) # on top plot(x,cos(1.3*x),linewidth=10, color='red', label='zorder=1',zorder = 1) # bottom plot(x,sin(2.1*x),linewidth=10, color='green', label='zorder=3',zorder = 3) axhline(0,linewidth=10, color='blue', label='zorder=2',zorder = 2) l = legend() l.set_zorder(20) # put the legend on top show() Keywords: python, matplotlib, pylab, example, codex (see :ref:`how-to-search-examples`)