Matplotlib is a library in Python and it is numerical – mathematical extension for NumPy library. Pyplot is a state-based interface to a Matplotlib module which provides a MATLAB-like interface.
matplotlib.pyplot.plot_date() Function:
The plot_date() function in pyplot module of matplotlib library is used to plot with data that contains dates.
Syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.plot_date(x, y, fmt='o', tz=None, xdate=True, ydate=False, hold=None, data=None, **kwargs)Parameters: This method accept the following parameters that are described below:
- x, y: These parameter are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the data points.
- fmt: This parameter is an optional parameter and it contains the string value.
- tz: This parameter is the time zone to use in labeling dates.It contain timezone string.
- xdate: This parameter is also an optional parameter. And it contain boolean values with default value True. If True, the x-axis will be interpreted as Matplotlib dates.
- ydate: This parameter is also an optional parameter. And it contain boolean values with default value True. If True, the y-axis will be interpreted as Matplotlib dates.
Returns: This returns the following:
- lines:This returns the list of Line2D objects representing the plotted data.
Below examples illustrate the matplotlib.pyplot.plot_date() function in matplotlib.pyplot:
Example #1:
# Implementation of matplotlib function import datetime import matplotlib.pyplot as plt from matplotlib.dates import drange import numpy as np date1 = datetime.datetime(2020, 4, 2) date2 = datetime.datetime(2020, 4, 12) delta = datetime.timedelta(hours = 24) dates = drange(date1, date2, delta) y = np.arange(len(dates)) plt.plot_date(dates, y ** 2) plt.title('matplotlib.pyplot.plot_date() function Example', fontweight ="bold") plt.show() |
Output:
Example #2:
# Implementation of matplotlib function import datetime import matplotlib.pyplot as plt from matplotlib.dates import DayLocator, HourLocator, DateFormatter, drange import numpy as np date1 = datetime.datetime(2020, 4, 2) date2 = datetime.datetime(2020, 4, 6) delta = datetime.timedelta(hours = 6) dates = drange(date1, date2, delta) y = np.arange(len(dates)) fig, ax = plt.subplots() ax.plot_date(dates, y ** 2, 'g') ax.set_xlim(dates[0], dates[-1]) ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(DayLocator()) ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(HourLocator(range(0, 25, 6))) ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(DateFormatter('% Y-% m-% d')) ax.fmt_xdata = DateFormatter('% Y-% m-% d % H:% M:% S') fig.autofmt_xdate() plt.title('matplotlib.pyplot.plot_date() function Example', fontweight ="bold") plt.show() |
Output:
