W3cubDocs

matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot_date

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

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, y : array-like: The coordinates of the data points. If xdate or ydate is True, the respective values x or y are interpreted as Matplotlib dates.
fmt : str, optional: The plot format string. For details, see the corresponding parameter in plot.
tz : [ None | timezone string | tzinfo instance]: The time zone to use in labeling dates. If None, defaults to rcParam timezone.
xdate : bool, optional, default: True: If True, the x-axis will be interpreted as Matplotlib dates.
ydate : bool, optional, 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
`animated`	bool
`antialiased` or aa	bool
`clip_box`	`Bbox`
`clip_on`	bool
`clip_path`	[(`Path`, `Transform`) \| `Patch` \| None]
`color` or c	color
`contains`	callable
`dash_capstyle`	{'butt', 'round', 'projecting'}
`dash_joinstyle`	{'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
`dashes`	sequence of floats (on/off ink in points) or (None, None)
`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
`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)
`path_effects`	`AbstractPathEffect`
`picker`	float or callable[[Artist, Event], Tuple[bool, dict]]
`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

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 are replaced by data[<arg>]:

All arguments with the following names: 'x', 'y'.

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