matplotlib.dates
¶Matplotlib provides sophisticated date plotting capabilities, standing on the
shoulders of python datetime
, the add-on modules pytz
and
dateutil
. datetime
objects are converted to floating point
numbers which represent time in days since 0001-01-01 UTC, plus 1. For
example, 0001-01-01, 06:00 is 1.25, not 0.25. The helper functions
date2num()
, num2date()
and drange()
are used to facilitate
easy conversion to and from datetime
and numeric ranges.
Note
Like Python’s datetime, mpl uses the Gregorian calendar for all conversions between dates and floating point numbers. This practice is not universal, and calendar differences can cause confusing differences between what Python and mpl give as the number of days since 0001-01-01 and what other software and databases yield. For example, the US Naval Observatory uses a calendar that switches from Julian to Gregorian in October, 1582. Hence, using their calculator, the number of days between 0001-01-01 and 2006-04-01 is 732403, whereas using the Gregorian calendar via the datetime module we find:
In [31]:date(2006,4,1).toordinal() - date(1,1,1).toordinal()
Out[31]:732401
A wide range of specific and general purpose date tick locators and
formatters are provided in this module. See
matplotlib.ticker
for general information on tick locators
and formatters. These are described below.
All the matplotlib date converters, tickers and formatters are
timezone aware, and the default timezone is given by the timezone
parameter in your matplotlibrc
file. If you leave out a
tz
timezone instance, the default from your rc file will be
assumed. If you want to use a custom time zone, pass a
pytz.timezone
instance with the tz keyword argument to
num2date()
, plot_date()
, and any custom date tickers or
locators you create. See pytz for
information on pytz
and timezone handling.
The dateutil module provides additional code to handle date ticking, making it easy to place ticks on any kinds of dates. See examples below.
Most of the date tickers can locate single or multiple values. For example:
# import constants for the days of the week
from matplotlib.dates import MO, TU, WE, TH, FR, SA, SU
# tick on mondays every week
loc = WeekdayLocator(byweekday=MO, tz=tz)
# tick on mondays and saturdays
loc = WeekdayLocator(byweekday=(MO, SA))
In addition, most of the constructors take an interval argument:
# tick on mondays every second week
loc = WeekdayLocator(byweekday=MO, interval=2)
The rrule locator allows completely general date ticking:
# tick every 5th easter
rule = rrulewrapper(YEARLY, byeaster=1, interval=5)
loc = RRuleLocator(rule)
Here are all the date tickers:
MinuteLocator
: locate minutesHourLocator
: locate hoursDayLocator
: locate specifed days of the monthWeekdayLocator
: Locate days of the week, eg MO, TUMonthLocator
: locate months, eg 7 for julyYearLocator
: locate years that are multiples of baseRRuleLocator
: locate using amatplotlib.dates.rrulewrapper
. Therrulewrapper
is a simple wrapper around adateutil.rrule
(dateutil) which allow almost arbitrary date tick specifications. See rrule example.AutoDateLocator
: On autoscale, this class picks the bestMultipleDateLocator
to set the view limits and the tick locations.
Here all all the date formatters:
AutoDateFormatter
: attempts to figure out the best format to use. This is most useful when used with theAutoDateLocator
.DateFormatter
: usestrftime()
format stringsIndexDateFormatter
: date plots with implicit x indexing.
matplotlib.dates.
date2num
(d)¶d is either a datetime
instance or a sequence of datetimes.
Return value is a floating point number (or sequence of floats) which gives the number of days (fraction part represents hours, minutes, seconds) since 0001-01-01 00:00:00 UTC, plus one. The addition of one here is a historical artifact. Also, note that the Gregorian calendar is assumed; this is not universal practice. For details, see the module docstring.
matplotlib.dates.
num2date
(x, tz=None)¶x is a float value which gives the number of days (fraction part represents hours, minutes, seconds) since 0001-01-01 00:00:00 UTC plus one. The addition of one here is a historical artifact. Also, note that the Gregorian calendar is assumed; this is not universal practice. For details, see the module docstring.
Return value is a datetime
instance in timezone tz (default to
rcparams TZ value).
If x is a sequence, a sequence of datetime
objects will
be returned.
matplotlib.dates.
drange
(dstart, dend, delta)¶Return a date range as float Gregorian ordinals. dstart and
dend are datetime
instances. delta is a
datetime.timedelta
instance.
matplotlib.dates.
epoch2num
(e)¶Convert an epoch or sequence of epochs to the new date format, that is days since 0001.
matplotlib.dates.
num2epoch
(d)¶Convert days since 0001 to epoch. d can be a number or sequence.
matplotlib.dates.
mx2num
(mxdates)¶Convert mx datetime
instance (or sequence of mx
instances) to the new date format.
matplotlib.dates.
DateFormatter
(fmt, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.ticker.Formatter
Tick location is seconds since the epoch. Use a strftime()
format string.
Python only supports datetime
strftime()
formatting
for years greater than 1900. Thanks to Andrew Dalke, Dalke
Scientific Software who contributed the strftime()
code
below to include dates earlier than this year.
fmt is an strftime()
format string; tz is the
tzinfo
instance.
illegal_s
= <_sre.SRE_Pattern object at 0x7fc4f7966138>¶set_tzinfo
(tz)¶strftime
(dt, fmt)¶matplotlib.dates.
IndexDateFormatter
(t, fmt, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.ticker.Formatter
Use with IndexLocator
to cycle format
strings by index.
t is a sequence of dates (floating point days). fmt is a
strftime()
format string.
matplotlib.dates.
AutoDateFormatter
(locator, tz=None, defaultfmt=u'%Y-%m-%d')¶Bases: matplotlib.ticker.Formatter
This class attempts to figure out the best format to use. This is
most useful when used with the AutoDateLocator
.
The AutoDateFormatter has a scale dictionary that maps the scale of the tick (the distance in days between one major tick) and a format string. The default looks like this:
self.scaled = {
365.0 : '%Y',
30. : '%b %Y',
1.0 : '%b %d %Y',
1./24. : '%H:%M:%S',
1. / (24. * 60.): '%H:%M:%S.%f',
}
The algorithm picks the key in the dictionary that is >= the current scale and uses that format string. You can customize this dictionary by doing:
>>> formatter = AutoDateFormatter()
>>> formatter.scaled[1/(24.*60.)] = '%M:%S' # only show min and sec
A custom FuncFormatter
can also be used.
The following example shows how to use a custom format function to strip
trailing zeros from decimal seconds and adds the date to the first
ticklabel:
>>> def my_format_function(x, pos=None):
... x = matplotlib.dates.num2date(x)
... if pos == 0:
... fmt = '%D %H:%M:%S.%f'
... else:
... fmt = '%H:%M:%S.%f'
... label = x.strftime(fmt)
... label = label.rstrip("0")
... label = label.rstrip(".")
... return label
>>> from matplotlib.ticker import FuncFormatter
>>> formatter.scaled[1/(24.*60.)] = FuncFormatter(my_format_function)
Autoformat the date labels. The default format is the one to use
if none of the values in self.scaled
are greater than the unit
returned by locator._get_unit()
.
matplotlib.dates.
DateLocator
(tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.ticker.Locator
tz is a tzinfo
instance.
datalim_to_dt
()¶hms0d
= {u'byminute': 0, u'byhour': 0, u'bysecond': 0}¶nonsingular
(vmin, vmax)¶Given the proposed upper and lower extent, adjust the range if it is too close to being singular (i.e. a range of ~0).
set_tzinfo
(tz)¶viewlim_to_dt
()¶matplotlib.dates.
RRuleLocator
(o, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.DateLocator
autoscale
()¶Set the view limits to include the data range.
get_unit_generic
(freq)¶matplotlib.dates.
AutoDateLocator
(tz=None, minticks=5, maxticks=None, interval_multiples=False)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.DateLocator
On autoscale, this class picks the best
DateLocator
to set the view limits and the tick
locations.
minticks is the minimum number of ticks desired, which is used to select the type of ticking (yearly, monthly, etc.).
maxticks is the maximum number of ticks desired, which controls
any interval between ticks (ticking every other, every 3, etc.).
For really fine-grained control, this can be a dictionary mapping
individual rrule frequency constants (YEARLY, MONTHLY, etc.)
to their own maximum number of ticks. This can be used to keep
the number of ticks appropriate to the format chosen in
AutoDateFormatter
. Any frequency not specified in this
dictionary is given a default value.
tz is a tzinfo
instance.
interval_multiples is a boolean that indicates whether ticks should be chosen to be multiple of the interval. This will lock ticks to ‘nicer’ locations. For example, this will force the ticks to be at hours 0,6,12,18 when hourly ticking is done at 6 hour intervals.
The AutoDateLocator has an interval dictionary that maps the frequency of the tick (a constant from dateutil.rrule) and a multiple allowed for that ticking. The default looks like this:
self.intervald = {
YEARLY : [1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 40, 50, 100, 200, 400, 500,
1000, 2000, 4000, 5000, 10000],
MONTHLY : [1, 2, 3, 4, 6],
DAILY : [1, 2, 3, 7, 14],
HOURLY : [1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12],
MINUTELY: [1, 5, 10, 15, 30],
SECONDLY: [1, 5, 10, 15, 30],
MICROSECONDLY: [1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000,
5000, 10000, 20000, 50000, 100000, 200000, 500000,
1000000],
}
The interval is used to specify multiples that are appropriate for the frequency of ticking. For instance, every 7 days is sensible for daily ticks, but for minutes/seconds, 15 or 30 make sense. You can customize this dictionary by doing:
locator = AutoDateLocator()
locator.intervald[HOURLY] = [3] # only show every 3 hours
autoscale
()¶Try to choose the view limits intelligently.
get_locator
(dmin, dmax)¶Pick the best locator based on a distance.
nonsingular
(vmin, vmax)¶refresh
()¶Refresh internal information based on current limits.
set_axis
(axis)¶matplotlib.dates.
YearLocator
(base=1, month=1, day=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.DateLocator
Make ticks on a given day of each year that is a multiple of base.
Examples:
# Tick every year on Jan 1st
locator = YearLocator()
# Tick every 5 years on July 4th
locator = YearLocator(5, month=7, day=4)
Mark years that are multiple of base on a given month and day (default jan 1).
autoscale
()¶Set the view limits to include the data range.
matplotlib.dates.
MonthLocator
(bymonth=None, bymonthday=1, interval=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.RRuleLocator
Make ticks on occurances of each month month, eg 1, 3, 12.
Mark every month in bymonth; bymonth can be an int or
sequence. Default is range(1,13)
, i.e. every month.
interval is the interval between each iteration. For
example, if interval=2
, mark every second occurance.
matplotlib.dates.
WeekdayLocator
(byweekday=1, interval=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.RRuleLocator
Make ticks on occurances of each weekday.
Mark every weekday in byweekday; byweekday can be a number or sequence.
Elements of byweekday must be one of MO, TU, WE, TH, FR, SA,
SU, the constants from dateutil.rrule
, which have been
imported into the matplotlib.dates
namespace.
interval specifies the number of weeks to skip. For example,
interval=2
plots every second week.
matplotlib.dates.
DayLocator
(bymonthday=None, interval=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.RRuleLocator
Make ticks on occurances of each day of the month. For example, 1, 15, 30.
Mark every day in bymonthday; bymonthday can be an int or sequence.
Default is to tick every day of the month: bymonthday=range(1,32)
matplotlib.dates.
HourLocator
(byhour=None, interval=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.RRuleLocator
Make ticks on occurances of each hour.
Mark every hour in byhour; byhour can be an int or sequence.
Default is to tick every hour: byhour=range(24)
interval is the interval between each iteration. For
example, if interval=2
, mark every second occurrence.
matplotlib.dates.
MinuteLocator
(byminute=None, interval=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.RRuleLocator
Make ticks on occurances of each minute.
Mark every minute in byminute; byminute can be an int or
sequence. Default is to tick every minute: byminute=range(60)
interval is the interval between each iteration. For
example, if interval=2
, mark every second occurrence.
matplotlib.dates.
SecondLocator
(bysecond=None, interval=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.RRuleLocator
Make ticks on occurances of each second.
Mark every second in bysecond; bysecond can be an int or
sequence. Default is to tick every second: bysecond = range(60)
interval is the interval between each iteration. For
example, if interval=2
, mark every second occurrence.
matplotlib.dates.
MicrosecondLocator
(interval=1, tz=None)¶Bases: matplotlib.dates.DateLocator
Make ticks on occurances of each microsecond.
interval is the interval between each iteration. For
example, if interval=2
, mark every second microsecond.
set_axis
(axis)¶set_data_interval
(vmin, vmax)¶set_view_interval
(vmin, vmax)¶matplotlib.dates.
rrule
(freq, dtstart=None, interval=1, wkst=None, count=None, until=None, bysetpos=None, bymonth=None, bymonthday=None, byyearday=None, byeaster=None, byweekno=None, byweekday=None, byhour=None, byminute=None, bysecond=None, cache=False)¶Bases: dateutil.rrule.rrulebase
matplotlib.dates.
relativedelta
(dt1=None, dt2=None, years=0, months=0, days=0, leapdays=0, weeks=0, hours=0, minutes=0, seconds=0, microseconds=0, year=None, month=None, day=None, weekday=None, yearday=None, nlyearday=None, hour=None, minute=None, second=None, microsecond=None)¶The relativedelta type is based on the specification of the excelent work done by M.-A. Lemburg in his mx.DateTime extension. However, notice that this type does NOT implement the same algorithm as his work. Do NOT expect it to behave like mx.DateTime’s counterpart.
There’s two different ways to build a relativedelta instance. The first one is passing it two date/datetime classes:
relativedelta(datetime1, datetime2)
And the other way is to use the following keyword arguments:
- year, month, day, hour, minute, second, microsecond:
- Absolute information.
- years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, microseconds:
- Relative information, may be negative.
- weekday:
- One of the weekday instances (MO, TU, etc). These instances may receive a parameter N, specifying the Nth weekday, which could be positive or negative (like MO(+1) or MO(-2). Not specifying it is the same as specifying +1. You can also use an integer, where 0=MO.
- leapdays:
- Will add given days to the date found, if year is a leap year, and the date found is post 28 of february.
- yearday, nlyearday:
- Set the yearday or the non-leap year day (jump leap days). These are converted to day/month/leapdays information.
Here is the behavior of operations with relativedelta:
matplotlib.dates.
seconds
(s)¶Return seconds as days.
matplotlib.dates.
minutes
(m)¶Return minutes as days.
matplotlib.dates.
hours
(h)¶Return hours as days.
matplotlib.dates.
weeks
(w)¶Return weeks as days.