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Axes class

class matplotlib.axes.Axes(fig, rect, facecolor=None, frameon=True, sharex=None, sharey=None, label='', xscale=None, yscale=None, axisbg=None, **kwargs)

The Axes contains most of the figure elements: Axis, Tick, Line2D, Text, Polygon, etc., and sets the coordinate system.

The Axes instance supports callbacks through a callbacks attribute which is a CallbackRegistry instance. The events you can connect to are ‘xlim_changed’ and ‘ylim_changed’ and the callback will be called with func(ax) where ax is the Axes instance.

Plotting

Basic

Axes.plot Plot lines and/or markers to the Axes.
Axes.errorbar Plot an errorbar graph.
Axes.scatter Make a scatter plot of x vs y.
Axes.plot_date Plot data that contains dates.
Axes.step Make a step plot.
Axes.loglog Make a plot with log scaling on both the x and y axis.
Axes.semilogx Make a plot with log scaling on the x axis.
Axes.semilogy Make a plot with log scaling on the y axis.
Axes.fill_between Make filled polygons between two curves.
Axes.fill_betweenx Make filled polygons between two horizontal curves.
Axes.bar Make a bar plot.
Axes.barh Make a horizontal bar plot.
Axes.stem Create a stem plot.
Axes.eventplot Plot identical parallel lines at the given positions.
Axes.pie Plot a pie chart.
Axes.stackplot Draws a stacked area plot.
Axes.broken_barh Plot horizontal bars.
Axes.vlines Plot vertical lines.
Axes.hlines Plot horizontal lines at each y from xmin to xmax.
Axes.fill Plot filled polygons.

Spans

Axes.axhline Add a horizontal line across the axis.
Axes.axhspan Add a horizontal span (rectangle) across the axis.
Axes.axvline Add a vertical line across the axes.
Axes.axvspan Add a vertical span (rectangle) across the axes.

Spectral

Axes.acorr Plot the autocorrelation of x.
Axes.angle_spectrum Plot the angle spectrum.
Axes.cohere Plot the coherence between x and y.
Axes.csd Plot the cross-spectral density.
Axes.magnitude_spectrum Plot the magnitude spectrum.
Axes.phase_spectrum Plot the phase spectrum.
Axes.psd Plot the power spectral density.
Axes.specgram Plot a spectrogram.
Axes.xcorr Plot the cross correlation between x and y.

Statistics

Axes.boxplot Make a box and whisker plot.
Axes.violinplot Make a violin plot.
Axes.violin Drawing function for violin plots.
Axes.bxp Drawing function for box and whisker plots.

Binned

Axes.hexbin Make a hexagonal binning plot.
Axes.hist Plot a histogram.
Axes.hist2d Make a 2D histogram plot.

Contours

Axes.clabel Label a contour plot.
Axes.contour Plot contours.
Axes.contourf Plot contours.

Array

Axes.imshow Display an image on the axes.
Axes.matshow Plot a matrix or array as an image.
Axes.pcolor Create a pseudocolor plot of a 2-D array.
Axes.pcolorfast pseudocolor plot of a 2-D array
Axes.pcolormesh Plot a quadrilateral mesh.
Axes.spy Plot the sparsity pattern on a 2-D array.

Unstructured Triangles

Axes.tripcolor Create a pseudocolor plot of an unstructured triangular grid.
Axes.triplot Draw a unstructured triangular grid as lines and/or markers.
Axes.tricontour Draw contours on an unstructured triangular grid.
Axes.tricontourf Draw contours on an unstructured triangular grid.

Text and Annotations

Axes.annotate Annotate the point xy with text s.
Axes.text Add text to the axes.
Axes.table Add a table to the current axes.
Axes.arrow Add an arrow to the axes.

Fields

Axes.barbs Plot a 2-D field of barbs.
Axes.quiver Plot a 2-D field of arrows.
Axes.quiverkey Add a key to a quiver plot.
Axes.streamplot Draws streamlines of a vector flow.

Clearing

Axes.cla Clear the current axes.
Axes.clear clear the axes

Appearance

Axes.axis Set axis properties.
Axes.set_axis_off turn off the axis
Axes.set_axis_on turn on the axis
Axes.set_frame_on Set whether the axes rectangle patch is drawn.
Axes.get_frame_on Get whether the axes rectangle patch is drawn.
Axes.set_axisbelow Set whether axis ticks and gridlines are above or below most artists.
Axes.get_axisbelow Get whether axis ticks and gridlines are above or below most artists.
Axes.grid Turn the axes grids on or off.
Axes.get_axis_bgcolor

Deprecated since version 2.0.

Axes.get_facecolor
Axes.get_fc
Axes.set_facecolor Set the Axes facecolor.
Axes.set_fc Set the Axes facecolor.
Axes.set_axis_bgcolor

Deprecated since version 2.0.

Property cycle

Axes.set_prop_cycle Set the property cycle for any future plot commands on this Axes.
Axes.set_color_cycle Set the color cycle for any future plot commands on this Axes.

Axis / limits

Axes.get_xaxis Return the XAxis instance.
Axes.get_yaxis Return the YAxis instance.

Axis Limits and direction

Axes.invert_xaxis Invert the x-axis.
Axes.xaxis_inverted Return whether the x-axis is inverted.
Axes.invert_yaxis Invert the y-axis.
Axes.yaxis_inverted Return whether the y-axis is inverted.
Axes.set_xlim Set the data limits for the x-axis
Axes.get_xlim Get the x-axis range
Axes.set_ylim Set the data limits for the y-axis
Axes.get_ylim Get the y-axis range
Axes.update_datalim Update the data lim bbox with seq of xy tups or equiv.
Axes.update_datalim_bounds Update the datalim to include the given
Axes.set_xbound Set the lower and upper numerical bounds of the x-axis.
Axes.get_xbound Return the lower and upper x-axis bounds, in increasing order.
Axes.set_ybound Set the lower and upper numerical bounds of the y-axis.
Axes.get_ybound Return the lower and upper y-axis bounds, in increasing order.

Axis Labels, title, and legend

Axes.set_xlabel Set the label for the xaxis.
Axes.get_xlabel Get the xlabel text string.
Axes.set_ylabel Set the label for the yaxis
Axes.get_ylabel Get the ylabel text string.
Axes.set_title Set a title for the axes.
Axes.get_title Get an axes title.
Axes.legend Places a legend on the axes.
Axes.get_legend Return the Legend instance, or None if no legend is defined.
Axes.get_legend_handles_labels Return handles and labels for legend

Axis scales

Axes.set_xscale Set the x-axis scale.
Axes.get_xscale Return the xaxis scale string: linear, log, logit, symlog
Axes.set_yscale Set the y-axis scale.
Axes.get_yscale Return the yaxis scale string: linear, log, logit, symlog

Autoscaling and margins

Axes.use_sticky_edges When autoscaling, whether to obey all Artist.sticky_edges.
Axes.margins Set or retrieve autoscaling margins.
Axes.set_xmargin Set padding of X data limits prior to autoscaling.
Axes.set_ymargin Set padding of Y data limits prior to autoscaling.
Axes.relim Recompute the data limits based on current artists.
Axes.autoscale Autoscale the axis view to the data (toggle).
Axes.autoscale_view Autoscale the view limits using the data limits.
Axes.set_autoscale_on Set whether autoscaling is applied on plot commands
Axes.get_autoscale_on Get whether autoscaling is applied for both axes on plot commands
Axes.set_autoscalex_on Set whether autoscaling for the x-axis is applied on plot commands
Axes.get_autoscalex_on Get whether autoscaling for the x-axis is applied on plot commands
Axes.set_autoscaley_on Set whether autoscaling for the y-axis is applied on plot commands
Axes.get_autoscaley_on Get whether autoscaling for the y-axis is applied on plot commands

Aspect ratio

Axes.apply_aspect Use _aspect() and _adjustable() to modify the axes box or the view limits.
Axes.set_aspect aspect
Axes.get_aspect
Axes.set_adjustable ACCEPTS: [ ‘box’ | ‘datalim’ | ‘box-forced’]
Axes.get_adjustable

Ticks and tick labels

Axes.set_xticks Set the x ticks with list of ticks
Axes.get_xticks Return the x ticks as a list of locations
Axes.set_xticklabels Set the x-tick labels with list of string labels.
Axes.get_xticklabels Get the x tick labels as a list of Text instances.
Axes.get_xmajorticklabels Get the major x tick labels.
Axes.get_xminorticklabels Get the minor x tick labels.
Axes.get_xgridlines Get the x grid lines as a list of Line2D instances.
Axes.get_xticklines Get the x tick lines as a list of Line2D instances.
Axes.xaxis_date Sets up x-axis ticks and labels that treat the x data as dates.
Axes.set_yticks Set the y ticks with list of ticks
Axes.get_yticks Return the y ticks as a list of locations
Axes.set_yticklabels Set the y-tick labels with list of strings labels.
Axes.get_yticklabels Get the x tick labels as a list of Text instances.
Axes.get_ymajorticklabels Get the major y tick labels.
Axes.get_yminorticklabels Get the minor y tick labels.
Axes.get_ygridlines Get the y grid lines as a list of Line2D instances.
Axes.get_yticklines Get the y tick lines as a list of Line2D instances.
Axes.yaxis_date Sets up y-axis ticks and labels that treat the y data as dates.
Axes.minorticks_off Remove minor ticks from the axes.
Axes.minorticks_on Add autoscaling minor ticks to the axes.
Axes.ticklabel_format Change the ScalarFormatter used by default for linear axes.
Axes.tick_params Change the appearance of ticks and tick labels.
Axes.locator_params Control behavior of tick locators.

Units

Axes.convert_xunits For artists in an axes, if the xaxis has units support,
Axes.convert_yunits For artists in an axes, if the yaxis has units support,
Axes.have_units Return True if units are set on the x or y axes

Adding Artists

Axes.add_artist Add any Artist to the axes.
Axes.add_collection Add a Collection instance to the axes.
Axes.add_container Add a Container instance to the axes.
Axes.add_image Add a AxesImage to the axes.
Axes.add_line Add a Line2D to the list of plot
Axes.add_patch Add a Patch p to the list of axes patches; the clipbox will be set to the Axes clipping box.
Axes.add_table Add a Table instance to the

Twinning

Axes.twinx Create a twin Axes sharing the xaxis
Axes.twiny Create a twin Axes sharing the yaxis
Axes.get_shared_x_axes Return a copy of the shared axes Grouper object for x axes
Axes.get_shared_y_axes Return a copy of the shared axes Grouper object for y axes

Axes Position

Axes.get_anchor
Axes.set_anchor anchor
Axes.get_axes_locator return axes_locator
Axes.set_axes_locator Set the axes locator.
Axes.reset_position Make the original position the active position
Axes.get_position Return the a copy of the axes rectangle as a Bbox
Axes.set_position Set the axes position

Async/Event based

Axes.stale If the artist is ‘stale’ and needs to be re-drawn for the output to match the internal state of the artist.
Axes.pchanged Fire an event when property changed, calling all of the registered callbacks.
Axes.add_callback Adds a callback function that will be called whenever one of the Artist’s properties changes.
Axes.remove_callback Remove a callback based on its id.

Interactive

Axes.can_pan Return True if this axes supports any pan/zoom button functionality.
Axes.can_zoom Return True if this axes supports the zoom box button functionality.
Axes.get_navigate Get whether the axes responds to navigation commands
Axes.set_navigate Set whether the axes responds to navigation toolbar commands
Axes.get_navigate_mode Get the navigation toolbar button status: ‘PAN’, ‘ZOOM’, or None
Axes.set_navigate_mode Set the navigation toolbar button status;
Axes.start_pan Called when a pan operation has started.
Axes.drag_pan Called when the mouse moves during a pan operation.
Axes.end_pan Called when a pan operation completes (when the mouse button
Axes.format_coord Return a format string formatting the x, y coord
Axes.format_cursor_data Return cursor data string formatted.
Axes.format_xdata Return x string formatted.
Axes.format_ydata Return y string formatted.
Axes.hitlist List the children of the artist which contain the mouse event event.
Axes.mouseover
Axes.in_axes Return True if the given mouseevent (in display coords)
Axes.pick Trigger pick event
Axes.pickable Return True if Artist is pickable.
Axes.get_picker Return the picker object used by this artist.
Axes.set_picker Set the epsilon for picking used by this artist
Axes.set_contains Replace the contains test used by this artist.
Axes.get_contains Return the _contains test used by the artist, or None for default.
Axes.contains Test whether the mouse event occurred in the axes.
Axes.contains_point Returns True if the point (tuple of x,y) is inside the axes (the area defined by the its patch).
Axes.get_cursor_data Get the cursor data for a given event.
Axes.get_cursor_props

Deprecated since version 2.1.

Axes.set_cursor_props

Deprecated since version 2.1.

Children

Axes.get_children return a list of child artists
Axes.get_images return a list of Axes images contained by the Axes
Axes.get_lines Return a list of lines contained by the Axes
Axes.findobj Find artist objects.

Drawing

Axes.draw Draw everything (plot lines, axes, labels)
Axes.draw_artist This method can only be used after an initial draw which caches the renderer.
Axes.redraw_in_frame This method can only be used after an initial draw which caches the renderer.
Axes.get_renderer_cache
Axes.get_rasterization_zorder Return the zorder value below which artists will be rasterized.
Axes.set_rasterization_zorder
Parameters:
Axes.get_window_extent get the axes bounding box in display space; args and
Axes.get_tightbbox Return the tight bounding box of the axes.

Bulk property manipulation

Axes.set A property batch setter.
Axes.update Update this artist’s properties from the dictionary prop.
Axes.properties return a dictionary mapping property name -> value for all Artist props
Axes.update_from Copy properties from other to self.

General Artist Properties

Axes.set_agg_filter Set the agg filter.
Axes.set_alpha Set the alpha value used for blending - not supported on all backends.
Axes.set_animated Set the artist’s animation state.
Axes.set_clip_box Set the artist’s clip Bbox.
Axes.set_clip_on Set whether artist uses clipping.
Axes.set_clip_path Set the artist’s clip path, which may be:
Axes.set_gid Sets the (group) id for the artist.
Axes.set_label Set the label to s for auto legend.
Axes.set_path_effects Set the path effects.
Axes.set_rasterized Force rasterized (bitmap) drawing in vector backend output.
Axes.set_sketch_params Sets the sketch parameters.
Axes.set_snap Sets the snap setting which may be:
Axes.set_transform Set the artist transform.
Axes.set_url Sets the url for the artist.
Axes.set_visible Set the artist’s visibility.
Axes.set_zorder Set the zorder for the artist.
Axes.get_agg_filter Return filter function to be used for agg filter.
Axes.get_alpha Return the alpha value used for blending - not supported on all
Axes.get_animated Return the artist’s animated state
Axes.get_clip_box Return artist clipbox
Axes.get_clip_on Return whether artist uses clipping
Axes.get_clip_path Return artist clip path
Axes.get_gid Returns the group id.
Axes.get_label Get the label used for this artist in the legend.
Axes.get_path_effects
Axes.get_rasterized Return whether the artist is to be rasterized.
Axes.get_sketch_params Returns the sketch parameters for the artist.
Axes.get_snap Returns the snap setting which may be:
Axes.get_transform Return the Transform instance used by this artist.
Axes.get_url Returns the url.
Axes.get_visible Return the artist’s visiblity
Axes.get_zorder Return the artist’s zorder.
Axes.axes The Axes instance the artist resides in, or None.
Axes.set_figure Set the Figure for this Axes.
Axes.get_figure Return the Figure instance the artist belongs to.

Artist Methods

Axes.is_figure_set Returns whether the artist is assigned to a Figure.
Axes.remove Remove the artist from the figure if possible.
Axes.is_transform_set Returns True if Artist has a transform explicitly set.

Projection

Methods used by Axis that must be overridden for non-rectilinear Axes.

Axes.name
Axes.get_xaxis_transform Get the transformation used for drawing x-axis labels, ticks and gridlines.
Axes.get_yaxis_transform Get the transformation used for drawing y-axis labels, ticks and gridlines.
Axes.get_data_ratio Returns the aspect ratio of the raw data.
Axes.get_data_ratio_log Returns the aspect ratio of the raw data in log scale.
Axes.get_xaxis_text1_transform Get the transformation used for drawing x-axis labels, which will add the given amount of padding (in points) between the axes and the label.
Axes.get_xaxis_text2_transform Get the transformation used for drawing the secondary x-axis labels, which will add the given amount of padding (in points) between the axes and the label.
Axes.get_yaxis_text1_transform Get the transformation used for drawing y-axis labels, which will add the given amount of padding (in points) between the axes and the label.
Axes.get_yaxis_text2_transform Get the transformation used for drawing the secondary y-axis labels, which will add the given amount of padding (in points) between the axes and the label.

Other

Axes.zorder
Axes.aname
Axes.get_default_bbox_extra_artists
Axes.get_transformed_clip_path_and_affine Return the clip path with the non-affine part of its transformation applied, and the remaining affine part of its transformation.
Axes.has_data Return True if any artists have been added to axes.
Axes.hold

Deprecated since version 2.0.

Axes.ishold

Deprecated since version 2.0.