.. toctree::
:hidden:
api_changes
See also the :doc:`api_changes`.
Below we describe several common approaches to plotting with Matplotlib.
matplotlib.pyplot is a collection of command style functions that make Matplotlib work like MATLAB. Each pyplot function makes some change to a figure: e.g., creates a figure, creates a plotting area in a figure, plots some lines in a plotting area, decorates the plot with labels, etc.
.pyplot is mainly intended for interactive plots and simple cases of programmatic plot generation.
Further reading:
- The matplotlib.pyplot function reference
- :doc:`/tutorials/introductory/pyplot`
- :ref:`Pyplot examples <pyplots_examples>`
At its core, Matplotlib is object-oriented. We recommend directly working with the objects, if you need more control and customization of your plots.
In many cases you will create a .Figure and one or more ~matplotlib.axes.Axes using .pyplot.subplots and from then on only work on these objects. However, it's also possible to create .Figures explicitly (e.g. when including them in GUI applications).
Further reading:
- matplotlib.axes.Axes and matplotlib.figure.Figure for an overview of plotting functions.
- Most of the :ref:`examples <examples-index>` use the object-oriented approach (except for the pyplot section)
.. automodule:: pylab
:no-members:
Matplotlib consists of the following submodules:
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:maxdepth: 1
matplotlib_configuration_api.rst
afm_api.rst
animation_api.rst
artist_api.rst
axes_api.rst
axis_api.rst
backend_bases_api.rst
backend_managers_api.rst
backend_tools_api.rst
index_backend_api.rst
bezier_api.rst
blocking_input_api.rst
category_api.rst
cbook_api.rst
cm_api.rst
collections_api.rst
colorbar_api.rst
colors_api.rst
container_api.rst
contour_api.rst
dates_api.rst
dviread.rst
figure_api.rst
font_manager_api.rst
fontconfig_pattern_api.rst
gridspec_api.rst
image_api.rst
legend_api.rst
legend_handler_api.rst
lines_api.rst
markers_api.rst
mathtext_api.rst
mlab_api.rst
offsetbox_api.rst
patches_api.rst
path_api.rst
patheffects_api.rst
pyplot_summary.rst
projections_api.rst
quiver_api.rst
rcsetup_api.rst
sankey_api.rst
scale_api.rst
sphinxext_plot_directive_api.rst
spines_api.rst
style_api.rst
table_api.rst
testing_api.rst
text_api.rst
texmanager_api.rst
textpath_api.rst
ticker_api.rst
tight_layout_api.rst
transformations.rst
tri_api.rst
type1font.rst
units_api.rst
widgets_api.rst
:ref:`toolkits-index` are collections of application-specific functions that extend Matplotlib. The following toolkits are included:
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:hidden:
toolkits/index.rst
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:maxdepth: 1
toolkits/mplot3d.rst
toolkits/axes_grid1.rst
toolkits/axisartist.rst
toolkits/axes_grid.rst