{% extends "layout.html" %}
{% set title = 'matplotlib: python plotting' %}

 
{% block body %}
  <h1>intro</h1>

  <p>matplotlib is a python 2D plotting library which produces
  publication quality figures in a variety of hardcopy formats and
  interactive environments across platforms.  matplotlib can be used
  in python scripts, the python and <a
  href="http://ipython.scipy.org">ipython</a> shell (ala matlab or
  mathematica), web application servers, and six graphical user
  interface toolkits.</p>

  <p>matplotlib tries to make easy things easy and hard things possible.
  You can generate plots, histograms, power spectra, bar charts,
  errorcharts, scatterplots, etc, with just a few lines of code.
  For a sampling, see the <a href="{{ pathto('users/screenshots') }}">screenshots</a>, <a href="{{ pathto('gallery') }}">thumbnail</a> gallery,  and
<a href="examples/index.html">examples</a> directory</p>

  <p align="center"><a href="{{ pathto('users/screenshots') }}"><img align="middle"
  src="{{ pathto('_static/logo_sidebar_horiz.png', 1) }}" border="0"
  alt="screenshots"/></a></p>


  <p>For example, to generate 10,000 gaussian random numbers and make a
  histogram plot binning the data into 100 bins, you simply need to
  type</p>

  <pre>
  >>> from pylab import randn, hist
  >>> x = randn(10000)
  >>> hist(x, 100)</pre>

  <p>For the power user, you have full control of line styles, font
  properties, axes properties, etc, via an object oriented interface
  or via a set of functions familiar to Matlab&reg; users.
  The pylab mode provides all of the <a href="api/pyplot_api.html">pyplot</a> plotting
  functions listed below, as well as non-plotting functions from
  <a href="http://scipy.org/Numpy_Example_List_With_Doc">numpy</a> and
  <a href="api/mlab_api.html">matplotlib.mlab</a>.</p>

  <h3>plotting commands</h3> <br/>

  <table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="2">

  <tr><th>Function</th><th>Description</th></tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.acorr">acorr</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        plot the autocorrelation function
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.annotate">annotate</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        annotate something in the figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.arrow">arrow</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add an arrow to the axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axes">axes</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        create a new axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axhline">axhline</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        draw a horizontal line across axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axvline">axvline</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        draw a vertical line across axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axhspan">axhspan</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        draw a horizontal bar across axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axvspan">axvspan</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        draw a vertical bar across axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.axis">axis</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set or return the current axis limits
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.barbs">barbs</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        a (wind) barb plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.bar">bar</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a bar chart
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.barh">barh</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        a horizontal bar chart
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.broken_barh">broken_barh</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        a set of horizontal bars with gaps
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.box">box</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the axes frame on/off state
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.boxplot">boxplot</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a box and whisker plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.cla">cla</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        clear current axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.clabel">clabel</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        label a contour plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.clf">clf</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        clear a figure window
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.clim">clim</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        adjust the color limits of the current image
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.close">close</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        close a figure window
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.colorbar">colorbar</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add a colorbar to the current figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.cohere">cohere</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a plot of coherence
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.contour">contour</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a contour plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.contourf">contourf</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a filled contour plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.csd">csd</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a plot of cross spectral density
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.delaxes">delaxes</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        delete an axes from the current figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.draw">draw</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        Force a redraw of the current figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.errorbar">errorbar</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make an errorbar graph
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figlegend">figlegend</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make legend on the figure rather than the axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figimage">figimage</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a figure image
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figtext">figtext</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add text in figure coords
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure">figure</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        create or change active figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.fill">fill</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make filled polygons
      </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.fill_between">fill_between</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make filled polygons between two curves
      </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.findobj">findobj</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        recursively find all objects matching some criteria
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.gca">gca</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        return the current axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.gcf">gcf</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        return the current figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.gci">gci</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        get the current image, or None
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.getp">getp</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        get a graphics property
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.grid">grid</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set whether gridding is on
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.hexbin">hexbin</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a 2D hexagonal binning plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.hist">hist</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a histogram
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.hold">hold</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the axes hold state
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ioff">ioff</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        turn interaction mode off
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ion">ion</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        turn interaction mode on
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.isinteractive">isinteractive</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        return True if interaction mode is on
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.imread">imread</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        load image file into array
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.imsave">imsave</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        save array as an image file
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.imshow">imshow</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        plot image data
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ishold">ishold</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        return the hold state of the current axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.legend">legend</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make an axes legend
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.loglog">loglog</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        a log log plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.matshow">matshow</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        display a matrix in a new figure preserving aspect
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.pcolor">pcolor</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a pseudocolor plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.pcolormesh">pcolormesh</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a pseudocolor plot using a quadrilateral mesh
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.pie">pie</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a pie chart
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot">plot</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a line plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot_date">plot_date</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        plot dates
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plotfile">plotfile</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        plot column data from an ASCII tab/space/comma delimited file
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.pie">pie</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        pie charts
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.polar">polar</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a polar plot on a PolarAxes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.psd">psd</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a plot of power spectral density
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.quiver">quiver</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a direction field (arrows) plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.rc">rc</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        control the default params
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.rgrids">rgrids</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        customize the radial grids and labels for polar
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.savefig">savefig</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        save the current figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.scatter">scatter</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a scatter plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.setp">setp</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set a graphics property
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.semilogx">semilogx</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        log x axis
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.semilogy">semilogy</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        log y axis
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.show">show</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        show the figures
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.specgram">specgram</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        a spectrogram plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.spy">spy</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        plot sparsity pattern using markers or image
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.stem">stem</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a stem plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot">subplot</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        make a subplot (numrows, numcols, axesnum)
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplots_adjust">subplots_adjust</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        change the params controlling the subplot positions of current figure
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot_tool">subplot_tool</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        launch the subplot configuration tool
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.suptitle">suptitle</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add a figure title
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.table">table</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add a table to the plot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.text">text</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add some text at location x,y to the current axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.thetagrids">thetagrids</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        customize the radial theta grids and labels for polar
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.title">title</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add a title to the current axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xcorr">xcorr</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        plot the autocorrelation function of x and y
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xlim">xlim</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set/get the xlimits
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ylim">ylim</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set/get the ylimits
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xticks">xticks</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set/get the xticks
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.yticks">yticks</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set/get the yticks
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.xlabel">xlabel</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add an xlabel to the current axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.ylabel">ylabel</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        add a ylabel to the current axes
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.autumn">autumn</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to autumn
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.bone">bone</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to bone
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.cool">cool</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to cool
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.copper">copper</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to copper
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.flag">flag</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to flag
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.gray">gray</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to gray
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.hot">hot</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to hot
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.hsv">hsv</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to hsv
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.jet">jet</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to jet
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.pink">pink</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to pink
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.prism">prism</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to prism
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.spring">spring</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to spring
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.summer">summer</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to summer
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.winter">winter</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to winter
      </td>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th align="left">
        <a href="api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.spectral">spectral</a>

      </th>

      <td align="left">
        set the default colormap to spectral
      </td>

    </tr>
  </table>
{% endblock %}