mpl

This is an object-oriented plotting library.

A procedural interface is provided by the companion pyplot module, which may be imported directly, e.g.:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

or using ipython:

ipython

at your terminal, followed by:

In [1]: %matplotlib
In [2]: import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

at the ipython shell prompt.

For the most part, direct use of the object-oriented library is encouraged when programming; pyplot is primarily for working interactively. The exceptions are the pyplot commands figure(), subplot(), subplots(), and savefig(), which can greatly simplify scripting.

Modules include:

matplotlib.axes
defines the Axes class. Most pylab commands are wrappers for Axes methods. The axes module is the highest level of OO access to the library.
matplotlib.figure
defines the Figure class.
matplotlib.artist
defines the Artist base class for all classes that draw things.
matplotlib.lines
defines the Line2D class for drawing lines and markers
matplotlib.patches
defines classes for drawing polygons
matplotlib.text
defines the Text, TextWithDash, and Annotate classes
matplotlib.image
defines the AxesImage and FigureImage classes
matplotlib.collections
classes for efficient drawing of groups of lines or polygons
matplotlib.colors
classes for interpreting color specifications and for making colormaps
matplotlib.cm
colormaps and the ScalarMappable mixin class for providing color mapping functionality to other classes
matplotlib.ticker
classes for calculating tick mark locations and for formatting tick labels
matplotlib.backends
a subpackage with modules for various gui libraries and output formats

The base matplotlib namespace includes:

rcParams
a global dictionary of default configuration settings. It is initialized by code which may be overridded by a matplotlibrc file.
rc()
a function for setting groups of rcParams values
use()
a function for setting the matplotlib backend. If used, this function must be called immediately after importing matplotlib for the first time. In particular, it must be called before importing pylab (if pylab is imported).

matplotlib was initially written by John D. Hunter (1968-2012) and is now developed and maintained by a host of others.

Occasionally the internal documentation (python docstrings) will refer to MATLAB®, a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.

Functions

checkdep_dvipng()
checkdep_ghostscript()
checkdep_inkscape()
checkdep_pdftops()
checkdep_ps_distiller(s)
checkdep_tex()
checkdep_usetex(s)
checkdep_xmllint()
compare_versions(a, b) return True if a is greater than or equal to b
converter(value)
cycler(*args, **kwargs) Creates a cycler.Cycler object much like cycler.cycler(), but includes input validation.
dedent(s) Remove excess indentation from docstring s.
get_backend() Return the name of the current backend.
get_cachedir(*args, **kwargs) Return the location of the cache directory.
get_configdir(*args, **kwargs) Return the string representing the configuration directory.
get_data_path(*args, **kwargs)
get_example_data(fname) get_example_data is deprecated – use matplotlib.cbook.get_sample_data
get_home(*args, **kwargs) Find user’s home directory if possible.
get_label(y, default_name)
get_py2exe_datafiles()
interactive(b) Set interactive mode to boolean b.
is_interactive() Return true if plot mode is interactive
is_string_like(obj) Return True if obj looks like a string
is_url(filename) Return True if string is an http, ftp, or file URL path.
matplotlib_fname() Get the location of the config file.
rc(group, **kwargs) Set the current rc params.
rc_file(fname) Update rc params from file.
rc_file_defaults() Restore the default rc params from the original matplotlib rc that
rc_params([fail_on_error]) Return a matplotlib.RcParams instance from the default matplotlib rc file.
rc_params_from_file(fname[, fail_on_error, ...]) Return matplotlib.RcParams from the contents of the given file.
rcdefaults() Restore the default rc params.
reload((module) -> module) Reload the module.
test([verbosity]) run the matplotlib test suite
tk_window_focus() Return true if focus maintenance under TkAgg on win32 is on.
unpack_labeled_data([replace_names, ...]) A decorator to add a ‘data’ kwarg to any a function.
urlopen(url[, data, timeout, cafile, ...])
use(arg[, warn, force]) Set the matplotlib backend to one of the known backends.
validate_backend(s)
verify_test_dependencies()

Classes

RcParams(*args, **kwargs) A dictionary object including validation
Verbose() A class to handle reporting.
chain chain(*iterables) –> chain object
rc_context([rc, fname]) Return a context manager for managing rc settings.

Exceptions

mplDeprecation alias of MatplotlibDeprecationWarning