matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot_date

Axes.plot_date(x, y, fmt='o', tz=None, xdate=True, ydate=False, *, data=None, **kwargs)

Plot data that contains dates.

Similar to plot, this plots y vs. x as lines or markers. However, the axis labels are formatted as dates depending on xdate and ydate.

Parameters:

x, yarray-like

The coordinates of the data points. If xdate or ydate is True, the respective values x or y are interpreted as Matplotlib dates.

fmtstr, optional

The plot format string. For details, see the corresponding parameter in plot.

tztimezone string or datetime.tzinfo, default: rcParams["timezone"] (default: 'UTC')

The time zone to use in labeling dates.

xdatebool, default: True

If True, the x-axis will be interpreted as Matplotlib dates.

ydatebool, default: False

If True, the y-axis will be interpreted as Matplotlib dates.

Returns:

lines

A list of Line2D objects representing the plotted data.

Other Parameters:

**kwargs

Keyword arguments control the Line2D properties:

Property	Description
agg_filter	a filter function, which takes a (m, n, 3) float array and a dpi value, and returns a (m, n, 3) array
alpha	float or None
animated	bool
antialiased or aa	bool
clip_box	Bbox
clip_on	bool
clip_path	Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
color or c	color
contains	unknown
dash_capstyle	{'butt', 'round', 'projecting'}
dash_joinstyle	{'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
dashes	sequence of floats (on/off ink in points) or (None, None)
data	(2, N) array or two 1D arrays
drawstyle or ds	{'default', 'steps', 'steps-pre', 'steps-mid', 'steps-post'}, default: 'default'
figure	Figure
fillstyle	{'full', 'left', 'right', 'bottom', 'top', 'none'}
gid	str
in_layout	bool
label	object
linestyle or ls	{'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}
linewidth or lw	float
marker	marker style string, Path or MarkerStyle
markeredgecolor or mec	color
markeredgewidth or mew	float
markerfacecolor or mfc	color
markerfacecoloralt or mfcalt	color
markersize or ms	float
markevery	None or int or (int, int) or slice or List[int] or float or (float, float) or List[bool]
path_effects	AbstractPathEffect
picker	unknown
pickradius	float
rasterized	bool or None
sketch_params	(scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
snap	bool or None
solid_capstyle	{'butt', 'round', 'projecting'}
solid_joinstyle	{'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
transform	matplotlib.transforms.Transform
url	str
visible	bool
xdata	1D array
ydata	1D array
zorder	float

See also

matplotlib.dates

Helper functions on dates.

matplotlib.dates.date2num

Convert dates to num.

matplotlib.dates.num2date

Convert num to dates.

matplotlib.dates.drange

Create an equally spaced sequence of dates.

Notes

If you are using custom date tickers and formatters, it may be necessary to set the formatters/locators after the call to plot_date. plot_date will set the default tick locator to AutoDateLocator (if the tick locator is not already set to a DateLocator instance) and the default tick formatter to AutoDateFormatter (if the tick formatter is not already set to a DateFormatter instance).

Note

In addition to the above described arguments, this function can take a data keyword argument. If such a data argument is given, the following arguments can also be string s, which is interpreted as data[s] (unless this raises an exception): x, y.

Objects passed as data must support item access (data[s]) and membership test (s in data).

Examples using matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot_date

Date Demo Convert