""" Customizing Matplotlib with style sheets and rcParams ===================================================== Tips for customizing the properties and default styles of Matplotlib. Using style sheets ------------------ The :mod:`.style` package adds support for easy-to-switch plotting "styles" with the same parameters as a :ref:`matplotlib rc ` file (which is read at startup to configure Matplotlib). There are a number of pre-defined styles `provided by Matplotlib`_. For example, there's a pre-defined style called "ggplot", which emulates the aesthetics of ggplot_ (a popular plotting package for R_). To use this style, just add: """ import numpy as np import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import matplotlib as mpl from cycler import cycler plt.style.use('ggplot') data = np.random.randn(50) ############################################################################### # To list all available styles, use: print(plt.style.available) ############################################################################### # Defining your own style # ----------------------- # # You can create custom styles and use them by calling `.style.use` with # the path or URL to the style sheet. # # For example, you might want to create # ``./images/presentation.mplstyle`` with the following:: # # axes.titlesize : 24 # axes.labelsize : 20 # lines.linewidth : 3 # lines.markersize : 10 # xtick.labelsize : 16 # ytick.labelsize : 16 # # Then, when you want to adapt a plot designed for a paper to one that looks # good in a presentation, you can just add:: # # >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt # >>> plt.style.use('./images/presentation.mplstyle') # # Alternatively, you can make your style known to Matplotlib by placing # your ``.mplstyle`` file into ``mpl_configdir/stylelib``. You # can then load your custom style sheet with a call to # ``style.use()``. By default ``mpl_configdir`` should be # ``~/.config/matplotlib``, but you can check where yours is with # `matplotlib.get_configdir()`; you may need to create this directory. You # also can change the directory where Matplotlib looks for the stylelib/ # folder by setting the :envvar:`MPLCONFIGDIR` environment variable, see # :ref:`locating-matplotlib-config-dir`. # # Note that a custom style sheet in ``mpl_configdir/stylelib`` will override a # style sheet defined by Matplotlib if the styles have the same name. # # Once your ``.mplstyle`` file is in the appropriate # ``mpl_configdir`` you can specify your style with:: # # >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt # >>> plt.style.use() # # # Composing styles # ---------------- # # Style sheets are designed to be composed together. So you can have a style # sheet that customizes colors and a separate style sheet that alters element # sizes for presentations. These styles can easily be combined by passing # a list of styles:: # # >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt # >>> plt.style.use(['dark_background', 'presentation']) # # Note that styles further to the right will overwrite values that are already # defined by styles on the left. # # # Temporary styling # ----------------- # # If you only want to use a style for a specific block of code but don't want # to change the global styling, the style package provides a context manager # for limiting your changes to a specific scope. To isolate your styling # changes, you can write something like the following: with plt.style.context('dark_background'): plt.plot(np.sin(np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi)), 'r-o') plt.show() ############################################################################### # .. _matplotlib-rcparams: # # Matplotlib rcParams # =================== # # .. _customizing-with-dynamic-rc-settings: # # Dynamic rc settings # ------------------- # # You can also dynamically change the default rc settings in a python script or # interactively from the python shell. All of the rc settings are stored in a # dictionary-like variable called :data:`matplotlib.rcParams`, which is global to # the matplotlib package. rcParams can be modified directly, for example: mpl.rcParams['lines.linewidth'] = 2 mpl.rcParams['lines.linestyle'] = '--' plt.plot(data) ############################################################################### # Note, that in order to change the usual `~.Axes.plot` color you have to # change the *prop_cycle* property of *axes*: mpl.rcParams['axes.prop_cycle'] = cycler(color=['r', 'g', 'b', 'y']) plt.plot(data) # first color is red ############################################################################### # Matplotlib also provides a couple of convenience functions for modifying rc # settings. `matplotlib.rc` can be used to modify multiple # settings in a single group at once, using keyword arguments: mpl.rc('lines', linewidth=4, linestyle='-.') plt.plot(data) ############################################################################### # `matplotlib.rcdefaults` will restore the standard Matplotlib # default settings. # # There is some degree of validation when setting the values of rcParams, see # :mod:`matplotlib.rcsetup` for details. # # .. _customizing-with-matplotlibrc-files: # # The :file:`matplotlibrc` file # ----------------------------- # # Matplotlib uses :file:`matplotlibrc` configuration files to customize all # kinds of properties, which we call 'rc settings' or 'rc parameters'. You can # control the defaults of almost every property in Matplotlib: figure size and # DPI, line width, color and style, axes, axis and grid properties, text and # font properties and so on. When a URL or path is not specified with a call to # ``style.use('/.mplstyle')``, Matplotlib looks for # :file:`matplotlibrc` in four locations, in the following order: # # 1. :file:`matplotlibrc` in the current working directory, usually used for # specific customizations that you do not want to apply elsewhere. # # 2. :file:`$MATPLOTLIBRC` if it is a file, else # :file:`$MATPLOTLIBRC/matplotlibrc`. # # 3. It next looks in a user-specific place, depending on your platform: # # - On Linux and FreeBSD, it looks in # :file:`.config/matplotlib/matplotlibrc` (or # :file:`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/matplotlib/matplotlibrc`) if you've customized # your environment. # # - On other platforms, it looks in :file:`.matplotlib/matplotlibrc`. # # See :ref:`locating-matplotlib-config-dir`. # # 4. :file:`{INSTALL}/matplotlib/mpl-data/matplotlibrc`, where # :file:`{INSTALL}` is something like # :file:`/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages` on Linux, and maybe # :file:`C:\\Python37\\Lib\\site-packages` on Windows. Every time you # install matplotlib, this file will be overwritten, so if you want # your customizations to be saved, please move this file to your # user-specific matplotlib directory. # # Once a :file:`matplotlibrc` file has been found, it will *not* search any of # the other paths. # # To display where the currently active :file:`matplotlibrc` file was # loaded from, one can do the following:: # # >>> import matplotlib # >>> matplotlib.matplotlib_fname() # '/home/foo/.config/matplotlib/matplotlibrc' # # See below for a sample :ref:`matplotlibrc file`. # # .. _matplotlibrc-sample: # # A sample matplotlibrc file # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ # # .. literalinclude:: ../../../matplotlibrc.template # # # .. _ggplot: https://ggplot2.tidyverse.org/ # .. _R: https://www.r-project.org/ # .. _provided by Matplotlib: https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/tree/master/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib