Grids are made up of intersecting straight (vertical, horizontal, and angular) or curved lines used to structure our content. Matplotlib helps us to draw plain graphs but it is sometimes necessary to use grids for better understanding and get a reference for our data points. Thus, Matplotlib provides a grid() for easy creation of gridlines with tonnes of customization.
matplotlib.pyplot.grid()
The grid() function in the Pyplot module of the Matplotlib library is used to configure the grid lines.
Syntax: matplotlib.pyplot.grid(True, color = “grey”, linewidth = “1.4”, axis = ”Y”, linestyle = “-.”)
Add Grid Lines to a Plot
The grid() sets the visibility of grids by specifying a boolean value (True/False). We can also choose to display minor or major ticks or both. Also, color, linewidth ,and lifestyle can be changed as additional parameters.
Python3
# Implementation of matplotlib functionimport matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as np# dummy datax1 = np.linspace(0.0, 5.0)y1 = np.cos(2 * np.pi * x1) * np.exp(-x1)# creates two subplotsfig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize = (12, 5))# Plot without gridax1.plot(x1, y1)ax1.set_title('Plot without grid')# plot with gridax2.plot(x1, y1)ax2.set_title("Plot with grid")# draw gridlinesax2.grid(True)plt.show() |
Output: 
Set Line Properties for the Grid
Now let’s draw gridlines using extra line properties such as color, linestyle, and linewidth.
Python3
# Implementation of matplotlib functionimport matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as np# dummy datax = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 400)y = np.sin(x ** 2)# set graph colorplt.plot(x, y, 'green')# to set titleplt.title("Plot with linewidth and linestyle")# draws gridlines of grey color using given# linewidth and linestyleplt.grid(True, color = "grey", linewidth = "1.4", linestyle = "-.")plt.show() |
Output:
Specify Which Grid Lines to Display
Display only grid lines for the x-axis
Draw gridlines using axis=’x’.
Python3
# Implementation of matplotlib functionimport matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as np# dummy datax = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 400)y = np.sin(x ** 2)# set graph colorplt.plot(x, y, 'green')# to set titleplt.title("Plot with linewidth and linestyle")# draws gridlines of grey color using given# linewidth and linestyleplt.grid(True, color = "grey", linewidth = "1.4",axis = 'x')plt.show() |
Output:
Display only grid lines for the y-axis
Draw gridlines using axis=’y’.
Python3
# Implementation of matplotlib functionimport matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as np# dummy datax = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 400)y = np.sin(x ** 2)# set graph colorplt.plot(x, y, 'green')# to set titleplt.title("Plot with linewidth and linestyle")# draws gridlines of grey color using given# linewidth and linestyleplt.grid(True, color = "grey", linewidth = "1.4", axis = 'y')plt.show() |
Output:
