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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.
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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)

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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:

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