Module plottools.ticks

Setting tick locations and formats.

Axes member functions

• set_xticks_delta(): set interval between major xticks.
• set_yticks_delta(): set interval between major yticks.
• set_xticks_log(): set major ticks on a logarithmic x-axis.
• set_yticks_log(): set major ticks on a logarithmic y-axis.
• set_xticks_fixed(): set custom xticks at fixed positions.
• set_yticks_fixed(): set custom yticks at fixed positions.
• set_xticks_prefix(): format xticks with SI prefixes.
• set_yticks_prefix(): format yticks with SI prefixes.
• set_xticks_fracs(): format and place xticks as fractions.
• set_yticks_fracs(): format and place xticks as fractions.
• set_xticks_pifracs(): format and place xticks as mutiples of pi.
• set_yticks_pifracs(): format and place yticks as mutiples of pi.
• set_xticks_format(): format xticks according to formatter string.
• set_yticks_format(): format yticks according to formatter string.
• set_xticks_blank(): draw xticks without labeling them.
• set_yticks_blank(): draw yticks without labeling them.
• set_xticks_off(): do not draw and label any xticks.
• set_yticks_off(): do not draw and label any yticks.
• set_minor_xticks_off(): do not draw any minor xticks.
• set_minor_yticks_off(): do not draw any minor yticks.

Settings

• ticks_params(): set default ticks appearance.

Install/uninstall ticks functions

You usually do not need to call these functions. Upon loading the ticks module, install_ticks() is called automatically.

• install_ticks(): install functions of the ticks module in matplotlib.
• uninstall_ticks(): uninstall all code of the ticks module from matplotlib.

Functions

def set_xticks_delta(ax, delta)

Set interval between major xticks.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

delta : float

Interval between xticks.

Examples

ax.set_xticks_delta(0.5)

def set_yticks_delta(ax, delta)

Set interval between major yticks.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the yticks are set.

delta : float

Interval between yticks.

See Also

set_xticks_delta()

def set_xticks_log(ax, subs=(1.0,), numdecs=4, numticks=None)

Set major ticks on a logarithmic x-axis.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

subs : None, 'auto', 'all', or sequence of floats

Multiples of integer powers of ten, where to place major ticks.

numdecs : int

???

numticks : int

Maximum number of ticks placed on the axis.

def set_yticks_log(ax, subs=(1.0,), numdecs=4, numticks=None)

Set major ticks on a logarithmic y-axis.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the yticks are set.

subs : None, 'auto', 'all', or sequence of floats

Multiples of integer powers of ten, where to place major ticks.

numdecs : int

???

numticks : int

Maximum number of ticks placed on the axis.

See Also

set_xticks_log()

def set_xticks_fixed(ax, locs, labels='%g')

Set custom xticks at fixed positions.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

locs : list of floats

Locations of xticks.

labels : string or list of strings

Either a format string (e.g. '%.1f') or a list of labels for each tick position in locs.

Notes

On logarithmic axis you may want to turn off minor ticks, e.g. via ax.set_minor_xticks_off().

Examples

Fixed locations:

ax.set_xticks_fixed((0, 0.3, 1))

Fixed locations and labels:

ax.set_xticks_fixed((0, 0.5, 1), ('a', 'b', 'c'))

def set_yticks_fixed(ax, locs, labels='%g')

Set custom yticks at fixed positions.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the yticks are set.

locs : list of floats

Locations of yticks.

labels : string or list of strings

Either a format string (e.g. '%.1f') or a list of labels for each tick position in locs.

Notes

On logarithmic axis you may want to turn off minor ticks, e.g. via ax.set_minor_yticks_off().

See Also

set_xticks_fixed()

def prefix_formatter(x, pos)

Function formatter used by set_xticks_prefix() and set_yticks_prefix().

def set_xticks_prefix(ax)

Format xticks with SI prefixes.

Ensures ticks to be numbers between 1 and 999 by appending necessary SI prefixes. That is, numbers between 1 and 999 are not modified and are formatted with '%g'. Numbers between 1000 and 999999 are divdided by 1000 and get an 'k' appended, e.g. 10000 -> '10k'. Numbers between 0.001 and 0.999 are multiplied with 1000 and get an 'm' appended, e.g. 0.02 -> '20m'. And so on.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

Examples

ax.set_xscale('log')
ax.set_xlim(1e-6, 1e0)
ax.set_xticks_prefix()

def set_yticks_prefix(ax)

Format yticks with SI prefixes.

Ensures ticks to be numbers between 1 and 999 by appending necessary SI prefixes. That is, numbers between 1 and 999 are not modified and are formatted with '%g'. Numbers between 1000 and 999999 are divdided by 1000 and get an 'k' appended, e.g. 10000 -> '10k'. Numbers between 0.001 and 0.999 are multiplied with 1000 and get an 'm' appended, e.g. 0.02 -> '20m'. And so on.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the yticks are set.

See Also

set_xticks_prefix()

def fraction_formatter(denominator, factor=1, fstring='', ontop=False)

Function formatter used by set_xticks_fracs() and set_yticks_fracs().

Parameters

denominator : int

Ticks are located at multiples of factor/denominator.

factor : float

Tick values are interpreted as multiples of factor, i.e. they are divided by factor, before turning them into fractions.

fstring : string

Textual representation of factor that is appended to the fractions.

ontop : boolean

Place fstring into the numerator instead of after the fraction.

Returns

Function formatter.

def set_xticks_fracs(ax, denominator, factor=1, fstring='', ontop=False)

Format and place xticks as fractions.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

denominator : int

XTicks are located at multiples of factor/denominator.

factor : float

Tick values are interpreted as multiples of factor, i.e. they are divided by factor, before turning them into fractions.

fstring : string

Textual representation of factor that is appended to the fractions.

ontop : boolean

Place fstring into the numerator instead of after the fraction.

Examples

ax.set_xlim(-1, 1)
ax.set_xticks_fracs(4)

def set_yticks_fracs(ax, denominator, factor=1, fstring='', ontop=False)

Format and place xticks as fractions.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

denominator : int

YTicks are located at multiples of factor/denominator.

factor : float

Tick values are interpreted as multiples of factor, i.e. they are divided by factor, before turning them into fractions.

fstring : string

Textual representation of factor that is appended to the fractions.

ontop : boolean

Place fstring into the numerator instead of after the fraction.

See Also

set_xticks_fracs()

def set_xticks_pifracs(ax, denominator, ontop=False)

Format and place xticks as mutiples of pi.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

denominator : int

XTicks are located at multiples of pi/denominator.

ontop : boolean

Place fstring into the numerator instead of after the fraction.

Examples

ax.set_xlim(-np.pi, 2*np.pi)
ax.set_xticks_pifracs(2)

Pi in the nominator:

ax.set_xlim(0, 4*np.pi/3)
ax.set_xticks_pifracs(3, True)

def set_yticks_pifracs(ax, denominator, ontop=False)

Format and place yticks as mutiples of pi.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

denominator : int

YTicks are located at multiples of pi/denominator.

ontop : boolean

Place fstring into the numerator instead of after the fraction.

See Also

set_xticks_pifracs()

def set_xticks_format(ax, fs)

Format xticks according to formatter string.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

fs : string

Format string used to format xticks.

Examples

ax.set_xticks_format('%04.1f')

def set_yticks_format(ax, fs)

Format yticks according to formatter string.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the yticks are set.

fs : string

Format string used to format xticks.

See Also

set_xticks_format()

def set_xticks_blank(ax)

Draw xticks without labeling them.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

See Also

common_xlabels()

Examples

ax.set_xticks_blank()

def set_yticks_blank(ax)

Draw yticks without labeling them.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the yticks are set.

See Also

common_ylabels(), set_xticks_blank()

def set_xticks_off(ax)

Do not draw and label any xticks.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the xticks are set.

Examples

ax.set_xticks_off()

def set_yticks_off(ax)

Do not draw and label any yticks.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the yticks are set.

See Also

set_xticks_off()

def set_minor_xticks_off(ax)

Do not draw any minor xticks.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the minor xticks are set.

def set_minor_yticks_off(ax)

Do not draw any minor yticks.

Parameters

ax : matplotlib axes

Axes on which the minor yticks are set.

See Also

set_minor_xticks_off()

def ticks_params(xtick_minor=None, ytick_minor='same', xtick_dir=None, ytick_dir='same', xtick_size=None, ytick_size='same', minor_tick_frac=0.6, xtick_major_width=None, ytick_major_width='same', xtick_minor_width=None, ytick_minor_width='same', xtick_major_pad=None, ytick_major_pad='same', xtick_minor_pad=None, ytick_minor_pad='same', xtick_alignment=None, ytick_alignment=None, xtick_color='axes', ytick_color='same', xtick_labelcolor='ticks', ytick_labelcolor='same', xtick_labelsize=None, ytick_labelsize='same')

Set default ticks appearance.

Only parameters that are not None are updated.

Arguments for ytick parameters with default 'same', are set to the respective xtick parameter, if that one is supplied. If you want to set the xtick parameter, but not the ytick parameter, you need to explicitly set the ytick parameter to None.

Call this function before you create any matplotlib figure.

Parameters

xtick_minor : bool

Show minor xticks. Sets rcParams xtick.minor.visible.

ytick_minor : bool

Show minor yticks. If 'same' set to the value of ytick_minor. Sets rcParams ytick.minor.visible.

xtick_dir : {'in', 'out', 'inout'}

Direction of xticks. Sets rcParams xtick.direction.

ytick_dir : {'in', 'out', 'inout', 'same'}

Direction of yticks. If 'same' set to the value of xtick_dir. Sets rcParams ytick.direction.

xtick_size : float

Length of major xticks marks in points. Sets rcParams xtick.major.size and xtick.minor.size. The minor tick size is multiplied with minor_tick_frac.

ytick_size : float or 'same'

Length of major yticks in points. If 'same' set to the value of xtick_size. Sets rcParams ytick.major.size and ytick.minor.size. The minor ytick size is multiplied with minor_tick_frac.

minor_tick_frac : float

Length of minor ticks relative to major tick size.

xtick_major_width : float

Width of major xticks in points. Sets rcParams xtick.major.width.

ytick_major_width : float or 'same'

Width of major yticks in points. If 'same' set to the value of xtick_major_width. Sets rcParams ytick.major.width.

xtick_minor_width : float

Width of minor xticks in points. Sets rcParams xtick.minor.width.

ytick_minor_width : float or 'same'

Width of minor yticks in points. If 'same' set to the value of ytick_minor_width. Sets rcParams ytick.minor.width.

xtick_major_pad : float

Distance of major xtick labels from major xticks in points. Sets rcParams xtick.major.pad.

ytick_major_pad : float or 'same'

Distance of major ytick labels from major yticks in points. If 'same' set to the value of xtick_major_pad. Sets rcParams ytick.major.pad.

xtick_minor_pad : float or 'same'

Distance of minor xtick labels from minor xticks in points. If 'same' set to the value of xtick_major_pad. Sets rcParams xtick.minor.pad.

ytick_minor_pad : float or 'same'

Distance of minor ytick labels from minor yticks in points. If 'same' set to the value of xtick_minor_pad. Sets rcParams ytick.minor.pad.

xtick_alignment : {'center', 'left', 'right'}

Alignment of xtick labels relative to xticks. Sets rcParams xtick.alignment.

ytick_alignment : {'center', 'top', 'bottom', 'baseline', 'center_baseline'}

Alignment of ytick labels relative to yticks. Sets rcParams ytick.alignment.

xtick_color : matplotlib color or 'axes'

Color of xticks. If 'axes' set to color of axes (rcParam axes.edgecolor). Sets rcParam xtick.color.

ytick_color : matplotlib color, 'axes', or 'same'

Color of yticks. If 'axes' set to color of axes (rcParam axes.edgecolor). If 'same' set to the value of xtick_color. Sets rcParam ytick.color.

xtick_labelcolor : matplotlib color, 'axes' or 'ticks'

Color of xtick labels. If 'axes' set to color of axes (rcParam axes.edgecolor). If 'ticks' set to color of xticks (rcParam xtick.color). Sets rcParam xtick.labelcolor.

ytick_labelcolor : matplotlib color, 'axes', 'ticks', or 'same'

Color of ytick labels. If 'axes' set to color of axes (rcParam axes.edgecolor). If 'ticks' set to color of yticks (rcParam ytick.color). If 'same' set to the value of xtick_labelcolor. Sets rcParam ytick.labelcolor.

xtick_labelsize : float

Font size of xtick labels. Sets rcParam xtick.labelsize.

ytick_labelsize : float or 'same'

Font size of ytick labels. If 'same' set to the value of xtick_labelsize. Sets rcParam ytick.labelsize.

def install_ticks()

Install ticks functions on matplotlib axes.

This function is also called automatically upon importing the module.

See Also

uninstall_ticks()

def uninstall_ticks()

Uninstall ticks functions from matplotlib axes.

Call this function to disable anything that was installed by install_ticks().

See Also

install_ticks()

def demo()

Run a demonstration of the ticks module.