Courses Tutorials Data Science Practice J
Data Visualization using
Matplotlib
Data Visualization is the process of presenting
data in the form of graphs or charts. It helps to
understand large and complex amounts of data
very easily. It allows the decision-makers to
make decisions very efficiently and also allows
them in identifying new trends and patterns
very easily. It is also used in high-level data
analysis for Machine Learning and Exploratory
Data Analysis (EDA). Data visualization can be
done with various tools like Tableau, Power BI,
Python.
In this article, we will discuss how to visualize
data with the help of the Matplotlib library of
Python.
Matplotlib
Matplotlib is a low-level library of Python
which is used for data visualization. It is easy to
use and emulates MATLAB like graphs and
visualization. This library is built on the top of
NumPy arrays and consist of several plots like
line chart, bar chart, histogram, etc. It provides
a lot of flexibility but at the cost of writing more
code.
Installation
We will use the pip command to install this
module. If you do not have pip installed then
refer to the article, Download and install pip
Latest Version.
WaveBasis 14-day Free
Trial
WaveBasis
To install Matplotlib type the below command
in the terminal.
pip install matplotlib
Refer to the below articles to get more
information setting up an environment
with Matplotlib.
Environment Setup for Matplotlib
Using Matplotlib with Jupyter
Notebook
Pyplot
Pyplot is a Matplotlib module that provides a
MATLAB-like interface. Matplotlib is designed
to be as usable as MATLAB, with the ability to
use Python and the advantage of being free
and open-source. Each pyplot function makes
some change to a figure: e.g., creates a figure,
creates a plotting area in a figure, plots some
lines in a plotting area, decorates the plot with
labels, etc. The various plots we can utilize
using Pyplot are Line Plot, Histogram, Scatter,
3D Plot, Image, Contour, and Polar.
After knowing a brief about Matplotlib and
pyplot let’s see how to create a simple plot.
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.show()
Output:
Now let see how to add some basic elements
like title, legends, labels to the graph.
Note: For more information about Pyplot, refer
Pyplot in Matplotlib
Adding Title
The title() method in matplotlib module is used
to specify the title of the visualization depicted
and displays the title using various attributes.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.title(label,
fontdict=None, loc=’center’, pad=None,
**kwargs)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Linear graph")
plt.show()
Output:
We can also change the appearance of the title
by using the parameters of this function.
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Linear graph", fontsize=25, color="green")
plt.show()
Output:
Note: For more information about adding the
title and its customization, refer
Matplotlib.pyplot.title() in Python
Adding X Label and Y Label
In layman’s terms, the X label and the Y label
are the titles given to X-axis and Y-axis
respectively. These can be added to the graph
by using the xlabel() and ylabel() methods.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel(xlabel,
fontdict=None, labelpad=None,
**kwargs)
matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel(ylabel,
fontdict=None, labelpad=None,
**kwargs)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Linear graph", fontsize=25, color="green")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Y-Axis')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('X-Axis')
plt.show()
Output:
Setting Limits and Tick labels
You might have seen that Matplotlib
automatically sets the values and the
markers(points) of the X and Y axis, however, it
is possible to set the limit and markers
manually. xlim() and ylim() functions are used
to set the limits of the X-axis and Y-axis
respectively. Similarly, xticks() and yticks()
functions are used to set tick labels.
Example: In this example, we will be changing
the limit of Y-axis and will be setting the labels
for X-axis.
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Linear graph", fontsize=25, color="green")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Y-Axis')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('X-Axis')
# Setting the limit of y-axis
plt.ylim(0, 80)
# setting the labels of x-axis
plt.xticks(x, labels=["one", "two", "three", "four"])
plt.show()
Output:
Adding Legends
A legend is an area describing the elements of
the graph. In simple terms, it reflects the data
displayed in the graph’s Y-axis. It generally
appears as the box containing a small sample
of each color on the graph and a small
description of what this data means.
The attribute bbox_to_anchor=(x, y) of legend()
function is used to specify the coordinates of
the legend, and the attribute ncol represents
the number of columns that the legend has. Its
default value is 1.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.legend([“name1”,
“name2”], bbox_to_anchor=(x, y), ncol=1)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Linear graph", fontsize=25, color="green")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Y-Axis')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('X-Axis')
# Setting the limit of y-axis
plt.ylim(0, 80)
# setting the labels of x-axis
plt.xticks(x, labels=["one", "two", "three", "four"])
# Adding legends
plt.legend(["GFG"])
plt.show()
Output:
Before moving any further with Matplotlib let’s
discuss some important classes that will be
used further in the tutorial. These classes are –
Figure
Axes
Note: Matplotlib take care of the creation of
inbuilt defaults like Figure and Axes.
Figure class
Consider the figure class as the overall window
or page on which everything is drawn. It is a
top-level container that contains one or more
axes. A figure can be created using the figure()
method.
Syntax:
class
matplotlib.figure.Figure(figsize=None,
dpi=None, facecolor=None,
edgecolor=None, linewidth=0.0,
frameon=None, subplotpars=None,
tight_layout=None,
constrained_layout=None)
Example:
Python3
# Python program to show pyplot module
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# Creating a new figure with width = 7 inches
# and height = 5 inches with face color as
# green, edgecolor as red and the line width
# of the edge as 7
fig = plt.figure(figsize =(7, 5), facecolor='g',
edgecolor='b', linewidth=7)
# Creating a new axes for the figure
ax = fig.add_axes([1, 1, 1, 1])
# Adding the data to be plotted
ax.plot(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Linear graph", fontsize=25, color="yellow")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Y-Axis')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('X-Axis')
# Setting the limit of y-axis
plt.ylim(0, 80)
# setting the labels of x-axis
plt.xticks(x, labels=["one", "two", "three", "four"])
# Adding legends
plt.legend(["GFG"])
plt.show()
Output:
>>> More Functions in Figure Class
Axes Class
Axes class is the most basic and flexible unit
for creating sub-plots. A given figure may
contain many axes, but a given axes can only be
present in one figure. The axes() function
creates the axes object.
Syntax:
axes([left, bottom, width, height])
Just like pyplot class, axes class also provides
methods for adding titles, legends, limits,
labels, etc. Let’s see a few of them –
Adding Title – ax.set_title()
Adding X Label and Y label –
ax.set_xlabel(), ax.set_ylabel()
Setting Limits – ax.set_xlim(), ax.set_ylim()
Tick labels – ax.set_xticklabels(),
ax.set_yticklabels()
Adding Legends – ax.legend()
Example:
Python3
# Python program to show pyplot module
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
fig = plt.figure(figsize = (5, 4))
# Adding the axes to the figure
ax = fig.add_axes([1, 1, 1, 1])
# plotting 1st dataset to the figure
ax1 = ax.plot(x, y)
# plotting 2nd dataset to the figure
ax2 = ax.plot(y, x)
# Setting Title
ax.set_title("Linear Graph")
# Setting Label
ax.set_xlabel("X-Axis")
ax.set_ylabel("Y-Axis")
# Adding Legend
ax.legend(labels = ('line 1', 'line 2'))
plt.show()
Output:
Multiple Plots
We have learned about the basic components
of a graph that can be added so that it can
convey more information. One method can be
by calling the plot function again and again
with a different set of values as shown in the
above example. Now let’s see how to plot
multiple graphs using some functions and also
how to plot subplots.
Method 1: Using the add_axes() method
The add_axes() method is used to add axes to
the figure. This is a method of figure class
Syntax:
add_axes(self, *args, **kwargs)
Example:
Python3
# Python program to show pyplot module
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# Creating a new figure with width = 5 inches
# and height = 4 inches
fig = plt.figure(figsize =(5, 4))
# Creating first axes for the figure
ax1 = fig.add_axes([0.1, 0.1, 0.8, 0.8])
# Creating second axes for the figure
ax2 = fig.add_axes([1, 0.1, 0.8, 0.8])
# Adding the data to be plotted
ax1.plot(x, y)
ax2.plot(y, x)
plt.show()
Output:
Method 2: Using subplot() method.
This method adds another plot at the specified
grid position in the current figure.
Syntax:
subplot(nrows, ncols, index, **kwargs)
subplot(pos, **kwargs)
subplot(ax)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# Creating figure object
plt.figure()
# adding first subplot
plt.subplot(121)
plt.plot(x, y)
# adding second subplot
plt.subplot(122)
plt.plot(y, x)
Output:
Method 3: Using subplots() method
This function is used to create figures and
multiple subplots at the same time.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.subplots(nrows=1,
ncols=1, sharex=False, sharey=False,
squeeze=True, subplot_kw=None,
gridspec_kw=None, **fig_kw)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# Creating the figure and subplots
# according the argument passed
fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2)
# plotting the data in the
# 1st subplot
axes[0].plot(x, y)
# plotting the data in the 1st
# subplot only
axes[0].plot(y, x)
# plotting the data in the 2nd
# subplot only
axes[1].plot(x, y)
Skip to content
Pandas Numpy Seaborn Ploty Data visualization Data Analysis Power BI Tableau Machine Learning Deep Learning
Output:
Share Your Experience
Data Visualization
with Python
Data Visualization
with Matplolib and
Seaborn
Data Visualization
with Matplotlib
Matplotlib
Introduction
Matplotlib Multiple Method 4: Using subplot2grid() method
Plots
This function creates axes object at a specified
Matplotlib Line Graph location inside a grid and also helps in
spanning the axes object across multiple rows
Matplotlib Charts or columns. In simpler words, this function is
used to create multiple charts within the same
Matplotlib Bar Chart
figure.
Matplotlib Histogram Syntax:
Matplotlib Scatter Plot
Plt.subplot2grid(shape, location,
Matplotlib Pie Chart rowspan, colspan)
Matplotlib 3D Plots
Matplotlib Working Example:
with Images
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# adding the subplots
axes1 = plt.subplot2grid (
(7, 1), (0, 0), rowspan = 2, colspan = 1)
axes2 = plt.subplot2grid (
(7, 1), (2, 0), rowspan = 2, colspan = 1)
# plotting the data
axes1.plot(x, y)
axes2.plot(y, x)
Output:
Different types of Matplotlib
Plots
Matplotlib supports a variety of plots including
line charts, bar charts, histograms, scatter plots,
etc. We will discuss the most commonly used
charts in this article with the help of some good
examples and will also see how to customize
each plot.
Note: Some elements like axis, color are
common to each plot whereas some elements
are pot specific.
Line Chart
Line chart is one of the basic plots and can be
created using the plot() function. It is used to
represent a relationship between two data X
and Y on a different axis.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.plot(\*args,
scalex=True, scaley=True, data=None,
\*\*kwargs)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Line Chart")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Y-Axis')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('X-Axis')
plt.show()
Output:
Let’s see how to customize the above-created
line chart. We will be using the following
properties –
color: Changing the color of the line
linewidth: Customizing the width of the line
marker: For changing the style of actual
plotted point
markersize: For changing the size of the
markers
linestyle: For defining the style of the
plotted line
Different Linestyle available
Character Definition
– Solid line
— Dashed line
-. dash-dot line
: Dotted line
. Point marker
o Circle marker
, Pixel marker
v triangle_down marker
v triangle_down marker
^ triangle_up marker
< triangle_left marker
> triangle_right marker
1 tri_down marker
2 tri_up marker
3 tri_left marker
4 tri_right marker
s square marker
p pentagon marker
* star marker
h hexagon1 marker
H hexagon2 marker
+ Plus marker
x X marker
D Diamond marker
d thin_diamond marker
| vline marker
_ hline marker
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# initializing the data
x = [10, 20, 30, 40]
y = [20, 25, 35, 55]
# plotting the data
plt.plot(x, y, color='green', linewidth=3, marker='o',
markersize=15, linestyle='--')
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Line Chart")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Y-Axis')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('X-Axis')
plt.show()
Output:
Note: For more information, refer Line plot
styles in Matplotlib
Bar Chart
A bar chart is a graph that represents the
category of data with rectangular bars with
lengths and heights that is proportional to the
values which they represent. The bar plots can
be plotted horizontally or vertically. A bar chart
describes the comparisons between the
discrete categories. It can be created using the
bar() method.
In the below example, we will use the tips
dataset. Tips database is the record of the tip
given by the customers in a restaurant for two
and a half months in the early 1990s. It
contains 6 columns as total_bill, tip, sex,
smoker, day, time, size.
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
x = data['day']
y = data['total_bill']
# plotting the data
plt.bar(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Tips Dataset")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Total Bill')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('Day')
plt.show()
Output:
Customization that is available for the Bar
Chart –
color: For the bar faces
edgecolor: Color of edges of the bar
linewidth: Width of the bar edges
width: Width of the bar
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
x = data['day']
y = data['total_bill']
# plotting the data
plt.bar(x, y, color='green', edgecolor='blue',
linewidth=2)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Tips Dataset")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Total Bill')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('Day')
plt.show()
Output:
Note: The lines in between the bars refer to the
different values in the Y-axis of the particular
value of the X-axis.
Histogram
A histogram is basically used to represent data
provided in a form of some groups. It is a type
of bar plot where the X-axis represents the bin
ranges while the Y-axis gives information about
frequency. The hist() function is used to
compute and create histogram of x.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.hist(x, bins=None,
range=None, density=False,
weights=None, cumulative=False,
bottom=None, histtype=’bar’, align=’mid’,
orientation=’vertical’, rwidth=None,
log=False, color=None, label=None,
stacked=False, \*, data=None, \*\*kwargs)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
x = data['total_bill']
# plotting the data
plt.hist(x)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Tips Dataset")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Frequency')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('Total Bill')
plt.show()
Output:
Customization that is available for the
Histogram –
bins: Number of equal-width bins
color: For changing the face color
edgecolor: Color of the edges
linestyle: For the edgelines
alpha: blending value, between 0
(transparent) and 1 (opaque)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
x = data['total_bill']
# plotting the data
plt.hist(x, bins=25, color='green', edgecolor='blue',
linestyle='--', alpha=0.5)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Tips Dataset")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Frequency')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('Total Bill')
plt.show()
Output:
Scatter Plot
Scatter plots are used to observe relationships
between variables. The scatter() method in the
matplotlib library is used to draw a scatter plot.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.scatter(x_axis_data,
y_axis_data, s=None, c=None,
marker=None, cmap=None, vmin=None,
vmax=None, alpha=None,
linewidths=None, edgecolors=None
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
x = data['day']
y = data['total_bill']
# plotting the data
plt.scatter(x, y)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Tips Dataset")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Total Bill')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('Day')
plt.show()
Output:
Customizations that are available for the scatter
plot are –
s: marker size (can be scalar or array of size
equal to size of x or y)
c: color of sequence of colors for markers
marker: marker style
linewidths: width of marker border
edgecolor: marker border color
alpha: blending value, between 0
(transparent) and 1 (opaque)
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
x = data['day']
y = data['total_bill']
# plotting the data
plt.scatter(x, y, c=data['size'], s=data['total_bill'],
marker='D', alpha=0.5)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Tips Dataset")
# Adding label on the y-axis
plt.ylabel('Total Bill')
# Adding label on the x-axis
plt.xlabel('Day')
plt.show()
Output:
Pie Chart
Pie chart is a circular chart used to display only
one series of data. The area of slices of the pie
represents the percentage of the parts of the
data. The slices of pie are called wedges. It can
be created using the pie() method.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.pie(data,
explode=None, labels=None,
colors=None, autopct=None,
shadow=False)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
cars = ['AUDI', 'BMW', 'FORD',
'TESLA', 'JAGUAR',]
data = [23, 10, 35, 15, 12]
# plotting the data
plt.pie(data, labels=cars)
# Adding title to the plot
plt.title("Car data")
plt.show()
Output:
Customizations that are available for the Pie
chart are –
explode: Moving the wedges of the plot
autopct: Label the wedge with their
numerical value.
color: Attribute is used to provide color to
the wedges.
shadow: Used to create shadow of wedge.
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
# Reading the tips.csv file
data = pd.read_csv('tips.csv')
# initializing the data
cars = ['AUDI', 'BMW', 'FORD',
'TESLA', 'JAGUAR',]
data = [23, 13, 35, 15, 12]
explode = [0.1, 0.5, 0, 0, 0]
colors = ( "orange", "cyan", "yellow",
"grey", "green",)
# plotting the data
plt.pie(data, labels=cars, explode=explode, autopct='%1.2f%%',
colors=colors, shadow=True)
plt.show()
Output:
Saving a Plot
For saving a plot in a file on storage disk,
savefig() method is used. A file can be saved in
many formats like .png, .jpg, .pdf, etc.
Syntax:
pyplot.savefig(fname, dpi=None,
facecolor=’w’, edgecolor=’w’,
orientation=’portrait’, papertype=None,
format=None, transparent=False,
bbox_inches=None, pad_inches=0.1,
frameon=None, metadata=None)
Example:
Python3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Creating data
year = ['2010', '2002', '2004', '2006', '2008']
production = [25, 15, 35, 30, 10]
# Plotting barchart
plt.bar(year, production)
# Saving the figure.
plt.savefig("output.jpg")
# Saving figure by changing parameter values
plt.savefig("output1", facecolor='y', bbox_inches="tight",
pad_inches=0.3, transparent=True)
Output:
Here's a complete roadmap for you to become a
developer: Learn DSA -> Master
