Set and get properties#

The pyplot interface allows you to use setp and getp to set and get object properties respectively, as well as to do introspection on the object.

Setting with setp#

To set the linestyle of a line to be dashed, you use setp:

>>> line, = plt.plot([1, 2, 3])
>>> plt.setp(line, linestyle='--')

If you want to know the valid types of arguments, you can provide the name of the property you want to set without a value:

>>> plt.setp(line, 'linestyle')
    linestyle: {'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}

If you want to see all the properties that can be set, and their possible values, you can do:

>>> plt.setp(line)

setp operates on a single instance or a list of instances. If you are in query mode introspecting the possible values, only the first instance in the sequence is used. When actually setting values, all the instances will be set. For example, suppose you have a list of two lines, the following will make both lines thicker and red:

>>> x = np.arange(0, 1, 0.01)
>>> y1 = np.sin(2*np.pi*x)
>>> y2 = np.sin(4*np.pi*x)
>>> lines = plt.plot(x, y1, x, y2)
>>> plt.setp(lines, linewidth=2, color='r')

Getting with getp#

getp returns the value of a given attribute. You can use it to query the value of a single attribute:

>>> plt.getp(line, 'linewidth')
    0.5

or all the attribute/value pairs:

>>> plt.getp(line)
    aa = True
    alpha = 1.0
    antialiased = True
    c = b
    clip_on = True
    color = b
    ... long listing skipped ...

Aliases#

To reduce keystrokes in interactive mode, a number of properties have short aliases, e.g., 'lw' for 'linewidth' and 'mec' for 'markeredgecolor'. When calling set or get in introspection mode, these properties will be listed as 'fullname' or 'aliasname'.

Hi mom
Line setters
  agg_filter: a filter function, which takes a (m, n, 3) float array and a dpi value, and returns a (m, n, 3) array and two offsets from the bottom left corner of the image
  alpha: scalar or None
  animated: bool
  antialiased or aa: bool
  clip_box: `~matplotlib.transforms.BboxBase` or None
  clip_on: bool
  clip_path: Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
  color or c: color
  dash_capstyle: `.CapStyle` or {'butt', 'projecting', 'round'}
  dash_joinstyle: `.JoinStyle` or {'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
  dashes: sequence of floats (on/off ink in points) or (None, None)
  data: (2, N) array or two 1D arrays
  drawstyle or ds: {'default', 'steps', 'steps-pre', 'steps-mid', 'steps-post'}, default: 'default'
  figure: `~matplotlib.figure.Figure`
  fillstyle: {'full', 'left', 'right', 'bottom', 'top', 'none'}
  gapcolor: color or None
  gid: str
  in_layout: bool
  label: object
  linestyle or ls: {'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}
  linewidth or lw: float
  marker: marker style string, `~.path.Path` or `~.markers.MarkerStyle`
  markeredgecolor or mec: color
  markeredgewidth or mew: float
  markerfacecolor or mfc: color
  markerfacecoloralt or mfcalt: color
  markersize or ms: float
  markevery: None or int or (int, int) or slice or list[int] or float or (float, float) or list[bool]
  mouseover: bool
  path_effects: list of `.AbstractPathEffect`
  picker: float or callable[[Artist, Event], tuple[bool, dict]]
  pickradius: float
  rasterized: bool
  sketch_params: (scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
  snap: bool or None
  solid_capstyle: `.CapStyle` or {'butt', 'projecting', 'round'}
  solid_joinstyle: `.JoinStyle` or {'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
  transform: `~matplotlib.transforms.Transform`
  url: str
  visible: bool
  xdata: 1D array
  ydata: 1D array
  zorder: float
Line getters
    agg_filter = None
    alpha = None
    animated = False
    antialiased or aa = True
    bbox = Bbox(x0=0.0, y0=-1.0, x1=0.99, y1=1.0)
    children = []
    clip_box = TransformedBbox(     Bbox(x0=0.0, y0=0.0, x1=1.0, ...
    clip_on = True
    clip_path = None
    color or c = r
    dash_capstyle = butt
    dash_joinstyle = round
    data = (array([0.  , 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, 0.06, ...
    drawstyle or ds = default
    figure = Figure(640x480)
    fillstyle = full
    gapcolor = None
    gid = None
    in_layout = True
    label = _child0
    linestyle or ls = --
    linewidth or lw = 2.0
    marker = None
    markeredgecolor or mec = r
    markeredgewidth or mew = 1.0
    markerfacecolor or mfc = r
    markerfacecoloralt or mfcalt = none
    markersize or ms = 6.0
    markevery = None
    mouseover = False
    path = Path(array([[ 0.00000000e+00,  0.00000000e+00],   ...
    path_effects = []
    picker = None
    pickradius = 5
    rasterized = False
    sketch_params = None
    snap = None
    solid_capstyle = projecting
    solid_joinstyle = round
    tightbbox = Bbox(x0=80.0, y0=52.8, x1=571.04, y1=422.4)
    transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     TransformWrapper(  ...
    transformed_clip_path_and_affine = (None, None)
    url = None
    visible = True
    window_extent = Bbox(x0=80.0, y0=-316.79999999999995, x1=571.04, y...
    xdata = [0.   0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05]...
    xydata = [[0.         0.        ]  [0.01       0.06279052] ...
    ydata = [0.         0.06279052 0.12533323 0.18738131 0.248...
    zorder = 2
Rectangle setters
  agg_filter: a filter function, which takes a (m, n, 3) float array and a dpi value, and returns a (m, n, 3) array and two offsets from the bottom left corner of the image
  alpha: scalar or None
  angle: unknown
  animated: bool
  antialiased or aa: bool or None
  bounds: (left, bottom, width, height)
  capstyle: `.CapStyle` or {'butt', 'projecting', 'round'}
  clip_box: `~matplotlib.transforms.BboxBase` or None
  clip_on: bool
  clip_path: Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
  color: color
  edgecolor or ec: color or None
  facecolor or fc: color or None
  figure: `~matplotlib.figure.Figure`
  fill: bool
  gid: str
  hatch: {'/', '\\', '|', '-', '+', 'x', 'o', 'O', '.', '*'}
  height: unknown
  in_layout: bool
  joinstyle: `.JoinStyle` or {'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
  label: object
  linestyle or ls: {'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}
  linewidth or lw: float or None
  mouseover: bool
  path_effects: list of `.AbstractPathEffect`
  picker: None or bool or float or callable
  rasterized: bool
  sketch_params: (scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
  snap: bool or None
  transform: `~matplotlib.transforms.Transform`
  url: str
  visible: bool
  width: unknown
  x: unknown
  xy: (float, float)
  y: unknown
  zorder: float
Rectangle getters
    agg_filter = None
    alpha = None
    angle = 0.0
    animated = False
    antialiased or aa = True
    bbox = Bbox(x0=0.0, y0=0.0, x1=1.0, y1=1.0)
    capstyle = butt
    center = [0.5 0.5]
    children = []
    clip_box = None
    clip_on = True
    clip_path = None
    corners = [[0. 0.]  [1. 0.]  [1. 1.]  [0. 1.]]
    data_transform = BboxTransformTo(     TransformedBbox(         Bbox...
    edgecolor or ec = (0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0)
    extents = Bbox(x0=80.0, y0=52.8, x1=576.0, y1=422.4)
    facecolor or fc = (1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
    figure = Figure(640x480)
    fill = True
    gid = None
    hatch = None
    height = 1.0
    in_layout = True
    joinstyle = miter
    label =
    linestyle or ls = solid
    linewidth or lw = 0.0
    mouseover = False
    patch_transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     BboxTransformTo(   ...
    path = Path(array([[0., 0.],        [1., 0.],        [1.,...
    path_effects = []
    picker = None
    rasterized = False
    sketch_params = None
    snap = None
    tightbbox = Bbox(x0=80.0, y0=52.8, x1=576.0, y1=422.4)
    transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     CompositeGenericTra...
    transformed_clip_path_and_affine = (None, None)
    url = None
    verts = [[ 80.   52.8]  [576.   52.8]  [576.  422.4]  [ 80...
    visible = True
    width = 1.0
    window_extent = Bbox(x0=80.0, y0=52.8, x1=576.0, y1=422.4)
    x = 0.0
    xy = (0.0, 0.0)
    y = 0.0
    zorder = 1
Text setters
  agg_filter: a filter function, which takes a (m, n, 3) float array and a dpi value, and returns a (m, n, 3) array and two offsets from the bottom left corner of the image
  alpha: scalar or None
  animated: bool
  antialiased: bool
  backgroundcolor: color
  bbox: dict with properties for `.patches.FancyBboxPatch`
  clip_box: `~matplotlib.transforms.BboxBase` or None
  clip_on: bool
  clip_path: Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
  color or c: color
  figure: `~matplotlib.figure.Figure`
  fontfamily or family or fontname: {FONTNAME, 'serif', 'sans-serif', 'cursive', 'fantasy', 'monospace'}
  fontproperties or font or font_properties: `.font_manager.FontProperties` or `str` or `pathlib.Path`
  fontsize or size: float or {'xx-small', 'x-small', 'small', 'medium', 'large', 'x-large', 'xx-large'}
  fontstretch or stretch: {a numeric value in range 0-1000, 'ultra-condensed', 'extra-condensed', 'condensed', 'semi-condensed', 'normal', 'semi-expanded', 'expanded', 'extra-expanded', 'ultra-expanded'}
  fontstyle or style: {'normal', 'italic', 'oblique'}
  fontvariant or variant: {'normal', 'small-caps'}
  fontweight or weight: {a numeric value in range 0-1000, 'ultralight', 'light', 'normal', 'regular', 'book', 'medium', 'roman', 'semibold', 'demibold', 'demi', 'bold', 'heavy', 'extra bold', 'black'}
  gid: str
  horizontalalignment or ha: {'left', 'center', 'right'}
  in_layout: bool
  label: object
  linespacing: float (multiple of font size)
  math_fontfamily: str
  mouseover: bool
  multialignment or ma: {'left', 'right', 'center'}
  parse_math: bool
  path_effects: list of `.AbstractPathEffect`
  picker: None or bool or float or callable
  position: (float, float)
  rasterized: bool
  rotation: float or {'vertical', 'horizontal'}
  rotation_mode: {None, 'default', 'anchor'}
  sketch_params: (scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
  snap: bool or None
  text: object
  transform: `~matplotlib.transforms.Transform`
  transform_rotates_text: bool
  url: str
  usetex: bool or None
  verticalalignment or va: {'baseline', 'bottom', 'center', 'center_baseline', 'top'}
  visible: bool
  wrap: bool
  x: float
  y: float
  zorder: float
Text getters
    agg_filter = None
    alpha = None
    animated = False
    antialiased = True
    bbox_patch = None
    children = []
    clip_box = None
    clip_on = True
    clip_path = None
    color or c = black
    figure = Figure(640x480)
    fontfamily or family or fontname = ['sans-serif']
    fontname or name = DejaVu Sans
    fontproperties or font or font_properties = sans\-serif:style=normal:variant=normal:weight=nor...
    fontsize or size = 12.0
    fontstyle or style = normal
    fontvariant or variant = normal
    fontweight or weight = normal
    gid = None
    horizontalalignment or ha = center
    in_layout = True
    label =
    math_fontfamily = dejavusans
    mouseover = False
    parse_math = True
    path_effects = []
    picker = None
    position = (0.5, 1.0)
    rasterized = False
    rotation = 0.0
    rotation_mode = default
    sketch_params = None
    snap = None
    stretch = normal
    text = Hi mom
    tightbbox = Bbox(x0=295.5, y0=426.7333333333333, x1=360.5, y1=...
    transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     BboxTransformTo(   ...
    transform_rotates_text = False
    transformed_clip_path_and_affine = (None, None)
    unitless_position = (0.5, 1.0)
    url = None
    usetex = False
    verticalalignment or va = baseline
    visible = True
    window_extent = Bbox(x0=295.5, y0=426.7333333333333, x1=360.5, y1=...
    wrap = False
    zorder = 3

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

x = np.arange(0, 1.0, 0.01)
y1 = np.sin(2*np.pi*x)
y2 = np.sin(4*np.pi*x)
lines = plt.plot(x, y1, x, y2)
l1, l2 = lines
plt.setp(lines, linestyle='--')       # set both to dashed
plt.setp(l1, linewidth=2, color='r')  # line1 is thick and red
plt.setp(l2, linewidth=1, color='g')  # line2 is thinner and green


print('Line setters')
plt.setp(l1)
print('Line getters')
plt.getp(l1)

print('Rectangle setters')
plt.setp(plt.gca().patch)
print('Rectangle getters')
plt.getp(plt.gca().patch)

t = plt.title('Hi mom')
print('Text setters')
plt.setp(t)
print('Text getters')
plt.getp(t)

plt.show()

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