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# matplotlib.pyplot.pcolormesh

`matplotlib.pyplot.``pcolormesh`(*args, **kwargs)

  Plot a quadrilateral mesh.

  Call signatures:

      pcolormesh(C)
      pcolormesh(X, Y, C)
      pcolormesh(C, **kwargs)

  Create a pseudocolor plot of a 2-D array.

  pcolormesh is similar to `pcolor()`, but uses a different mechanism and returns a different object; pcolor returns a `PolyCollection` but pcolormesh returns a `QuadMesh`. It is much faster, so it is almost always preferred for large arrays.

  C may be a masked array, but X and Y may not. Masked array support is implemented via cmap and norm; in contrast, `pcolor()` simply does not draw quadrilaterals with masked colors or vertices.

  Keyword arguments:

  > cmap: [ None | Colormap ]
  >   A `matplotlib.colors.Colormap` instance. If None, use rc settings.
  > norm: [ None | Normalize ]
  >   A `matplotlib.colors.Normalize` instance is used to scale luminance data to 0,1. If None, defaults to `normalize()`.
  > vmin/vmax: [ None | scalar ]
  >   vmin and vmax are used in conjunction with norm to normalize luminance data. If either is None, it is autoscaled to the respective min or max of the color array C. If not None, vmin or vmax passed in here override any pre-existing values supplied in the norm instance.
  > shading: [ ‘flat’ | ‘gouraud’ ]
  >   ‘flat’ indicates a solid color for each quad. When ‘gouraud’, each quad will be Gouraud shaded. When gouraud shading, edgecolors is ignored.
  > edgecolors: [None | `'None'` | `'face'` | color |

  >   > color sequence]

  >   If None, the rc setting is used by default.

  >   If `'None'`, edges will not be visible.

  >   If `'face'`, edges will have the same color as the faces.

  >   An mpl color or sequence of colors will set the edge color

  > alpha: `0 <= scalar <= 1` or None
  >   the alpha blending value

  Return value is a `matplotlib.collections.QuadMesh` object.

  kwargs can be used to control the `matplotlib.collections.QuadMesh` properties:

  > Property | Description
  > --- | ---
  > `agg_filter` | unknown
  > `alpha` | float or None
  > `animated` | [True | False]
  > `antialiased` or antialiaseds | Boolean or sequence of booleans
  > `array` | unknown
  > `axes` | an `Axes` instance
  > `clim` | a length 2 sequence of floats
  > `clip_box` | a `matplotlib.transforms.Bbox` instance
  > `clip_on` | [True | False]
  > `clip_path` | [ (`Path`, `Transform`) | `Patch` | None ]
  > `cmap` | a colormap or registered colormap name
  > `color` | matplotlib color arg or sequence of rgba tuples
  > `contains` | a callable function
  > `edgecolor` or edgecolors | matplotlib color spec or sequence of specs
  > `facecolor` or facecolors | matplotlib color spec or sequence of specs
  > `figure` | a `matplotlib.figure.Figure` instance
  > `gid` | an id string
  > `hatch` | [ ‘/’ | ‘' | ‘|’ | ‘-‘ | ‘+’ | ‘x’ | ‘o’ | ‘O’ | ‘.’ | ‘*’ ]
  > `label` | string or anything printable with ‘%s’ conversion.
  > `linestyle` or dashes or linestyles | [‘solid’ | ‘dashed’, ‘dashdot’, ‘dotted’ | (offset, on-off-dash-seq) | `'-'` | `'--'` | `'-.'` | `':'` | `'None'` | `' '` | `''`]
  > `linewidth` or linewidths or lw | float or sequence of floats
  > `norm` | unknown
  > `offset_position` | unknown
  > `offsets` | float or sequence of floats
  > `path_effects` | unknown
  > `picker` | [None|float|boolean|callable]
  > `pickradius` | unknown
  > `rasterized` | [True | False | None]
  > `sketch_params` | unknown
  > `snap` | unknown
  > `transform` | `Transform` instance
  > `url` | a url string
  > `urls` | unknown
  > `visible` | [True | False]
  > `zorder` | any number

  See also

  `pcolor()`
    For an explanation of the grid orientation (Grid Orientation) and the expansion of 1-D X and/or Y to 2-D arrays.

  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 positional and all keyword arguments.