API Reference

Matplotlib interfaces

Matplotlib has two interfaces. See :ref:api_interfaces for a more detailed description of both and their recommended use cases.

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    **Axes interface** (object-based, explicit)

    create a `.Figure` and one or more `~.axes.Axes` objects, then *explicitly* use
    methods on these objects to add data, configure limits, set labels etc.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    API:

    - `~.pyplot.subplots`: create Figure and Axes
    - :mod:`~matplotlib.axes`: add data, limits, labels etc.
    - `.Figure`: for figure-level methods

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Example:

    .. code-block:: python
       :class: api-interface-example

       fig, ax = plt.subplots()
       ax.plot(x, y)
       ax.set_title("Sample plot")
       plt.show()


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    **pyplot interface** (function-based, implicit)

    consists of functions in the `.pyplot` module. Figure and Axes are manipulated
    through these functions and are only *implicitly* present in the background.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    API:

    - `matplotlib.pyplot`

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Example:

    .. code-block:: python
       :class: api-interface-example

       plt.plot(x, y)
       plt.title("Sample plot")
       plt.show()

.. _api-index:

Modules

Alphabetical list of modules:

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1

matplotlib_configuration_api.rst animation_api.rst artist_api.rst axes_api.rst axis_api.rst backend_bases_api.rst backend_managers_api.rst backend_tools_api.rst index_backend_api.rst bezier_api.rst category_api.rst cbook_api.rst cm_api.rst collections_api.rst colorbar_api.rst colorizer_api.rst colors_api.rst container_api.rst contour_api.rst dates_api.rst dviread.rst figure_api.rst font_manager_api.rst ft2font.rst gridspec_api.rst hatch_api.rst image_api.rst inset_api.rst layout_engine_api.rst legend_api.rst legend_handler_api.rst lines_api.rst markers_api.rst mathtext_api.rst mlab_api.rst offsetbox_api.rst patches_api.rst path_api.rst patheffects_api.rst pyplot_summary.rst projections_api.rst quiver_api.rst rcsetup_api.rst sankey_api.rst scale_api.rst sphinxext_mathmpl_api.rst sphinxext_plot_directive_api.rst sphinxext_figmpl_directive_api.rst sphinxext_roles.rst spines_api.rst style_api.rst table_api.rst testing_api.rst text_api.rst texmanager_api.rst ticker_api.rst transformations.rst tri_api.rst typing_api.rst units_api.rst widgets_api.rst _afm_api.rst _api_api.rst _docstring_api.rst _enums_api.rst _type1font.rst _tight_bbox_api.rst _tight_layout_api.rst toolkits/mplot3d.rst toolkits/axes_grid1.rst toolkits/axisartist.rst pylab.rst