Below we describe several common approaches to plotting with Matplotlib. .. contents:: The Pyplot API -------------- The :mod:`matplotlib.pyplot` module contains functions that allow you to generate many kinds of plots quickly. For examples that showcase the use of the :mod:`matplotlib.pyplot` module, see the :doc:`/tutorials/introductory/pyplot` or the :ref:`pyplots_examples`. We also recommend that you look into the object-oriented approach to plotting, described below. .. currentmodule:: matplotlib.pyplot .. autofunction:: plotting The Object-Oriented API ----------------------- Most of these functions also exist as methods in the :class:`matplotlib.axes.Axes` class. You can use them with the "Object Oriented" approach to Matplotlib. While it is easy to quickly generate plots with the :mod:`matplotlib.pyplot` module, we recommend using the object-oriented approach for more control and customization of your plots. See the methods in the :meth:`matplotlib.axes.Axes` class for many of the same plotting functions. For examples of the OO approach to Matplotlib, see the :ref:`API Examples`. Colors in Matplotlib -------------------- There are many colormaps you can use to map data onto color values. Below we list several ways in which color can be utilized in Matplotlib. For a more in-depth look at colormaps, see the :doc:`/tutorials/colors/colormaps` tutorial. .. autofunction:: colormaps