

.. _sphx_glr_gallery_ticks_and_spines_tick-locators.py:


=============
Tick locators
=============

Show the different tick locators.




.. image:: /gallery/ticks_and_spines/images/sphx_glr_tick-locators_001.png
    :align: center





.. code-block:: python


    import numpy as np
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    import matplotlib.ticker as ticker


    # Setup a plot such that only the bottom spine is shown
    def setup(ax):
        ax.spines['right'].set_color('none')
        ax.spines['left'].set_color('none')
        ax.yaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.NullLocator())
        ax.spines['top'].set_color('none')
        ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom')
        ax.tick_params(which='major', width=1.00)
        ax.tick_params(which='major', length=5)
        ax.tick_params(which='minor', width=0.75)
        ax.tick_params(which='minor', length=2.5)
        ax.set_xlim(0, 5)
        ax.set_ylim(0, 1)
        ax.patch.set_alpha(0.0)


    plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6))
    n = 8

    # Null Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 1)
    setup(ax)
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.NullLocator())
    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(ticker.NullLocator())
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "NullLocator()", fontsize=14, transform=ax.transAxes)

    # Multiple Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 2)
    setup(ax)
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.MultipleLocator(0.5))
    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(ticker.MultipleLocator(0.1))
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "MultipleLocator(0.5)", fontsize=14,
            transform=ax.transAxes)

    # Fixed Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 3)
    setup(ax)
    majors = [0, 1, 5]
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.FixedLocator(majors))
    minors = np.linspace(0, 1, 11)[1:-1]
    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(ticker.FixedLocator(minors))
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "FixedLocator([0, 1, 5])", fontsize=14,
            transform=ax.transAxes)

    # Linear Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 4)
    setup(ax)
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.LinearLocator(3))
    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(ticker.LinearLocator(31))
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "LinearLocator(numticks=3)",
            fontsize=14, transform=ax.transAxes)

    # Index Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 5)
    setup(ax)
    ax.plot(range(0, 5), [0]*5, color='White')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.IndexLocator(base=.5, offset=.25))
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "IndexLocator(base=0.5, offset=0.25)",
            fontsize=14, transform=ax.transAxes)

    # Auto Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 6)
    setup(ax)
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.AutoLocator())
    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(ticker.AutoMinorLocator())
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "AutoLocator()", fontsize=14, transform=ax.transAxes)

    # MaxN Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 7)
    setup(ax)
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.MaxNLocator(4))
    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(ticker.MaxNLocator(40))
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "MaxNLocator(n=4)", fontsize=14, transform=ax.transAxes)

    # Log Locator
    ax = plt.subplot(n, 1, 8)
    setup(ax)
    ax.set_xlim(10**3, 10**10)
    ax.set_xscale('log')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.LogLocator(base=10.0, numticks=15))
    ax.text(0.0, 0.1, "LogLocator(base=10, numticks=15)",
            fontsize=15, transform=ax.transAxes)

    # Push the top of the top axes outside the figure because we only show the
    # bottom spine.
    plt.subplots_adjust(left=0.05, right=0.95, bottom=0.05, top=1.05)

    plt.show()

**Total running time of the script:** ( 0 minutes  0.289 seconds)



.. container:: sphx-glr-footer


  .. container:: sphx-glr-download

     :download:`Download Python source code: tick-locators.py <tick-locators.py>`



  .. container:: sphx-glr-download

     :download:`Download Jupyter notebook: tick-locators.ipynb <tick-locators.ipynb>`

.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-signature

    `Generated by Sphinx-Gallery <https://sphinx-gallery.readthedocs.io>`_
