matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot_date

Axes.plot_date(x, y, fmt='o', tz=None, xdate=True, ydate=False, *, data=None, **kwargs)

Plot data that contains dates.

Similar to plot, this plots y vs. x as lines or markers. However, the axis labels are formatted as dates depending on xdate and ydate.

Parameters:

x, y : array-like

The coordinates of the data points. If xdate or ydate is True, the respective values x or y are interpreted as Matplotlib dates.

fmt : str, optional

The plot format string. For details, see the corresponding parameter in plot.

tz : [ None | timezone string | tzinfo instance]

The time zone to use in labeling dates. If None, defaults to rcParam timezone.

xdate : bool, optional, default: True

If True, the x-axis will be interpreted as Matplotlib dates.

ydate : bool, optional, default: False

If True, the y-axis will be interpreted as Matplotlib dates.

Returns:

lines

A list of Line2D objects that were added to the axes.

Other Parameters:  

**kwargs

Keyword arguments control the Line2D properties:

Property	Description
agg_filter	a filter function, which takes a (m, n, 3) float array and a dpi value, and returns a (m, n, 3) array
alpha	float (0.0 transparent through 1.0 opaque)
animated	bool
antialiased or aa	bool
clip_box	a Bbox instance
clip_on	bool
clip_path	[(Path, Transform) | Patch | None]
color or c	any matplotlib color
contains	a callable function
dash_capstyle	[‘butt’ | ‘round’ | ‘projecting’]
dash_joinstyle	[‘miter’ | ‘round’ | ‘bevel’]
dashes	sequence of on/off ink in points
drawstyle	[‘default’ | ‘steps’ | ‘steps-pre’ | ‘steps-mid’ | ‘steps-post’]
figure	a Figure instance
fillstyle	[‘full’ | ‘left’ | ‘right’ | ‘bottom’ | ‘top’ | ‘none’]
gid	an id string
label	object
linestyle or ls	[‘solid’ | ‘dashed’, ‘dashdot’, ‘dotted’ | (offset, on-off-dash-seq) | '-' | '--' | '-.' | ':' | 'None' | ' ' | '']
linewidth or lw	float value in points
marker	A valid marker style
markeredgecolor or mec	any matplotlib color
markeredgewidth or mew	float value in points
markerfacecolor or mfc	any matplotlib color
markerfacecoloralt or mfcalt	any matplotlib color
markersize or ms	float
markevery	[None | int | length-2 tuple of int | slice | list/array of int | float | length-2 tuple of float]
path_effects	AbstractPathEffect
picker	float distance in points or callable pick function fn(artist, event)
pickradius	float distance in points
rasterized	bool or None
sketch_params	(scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
snap	bool or None
solid_capstyle	[‘butt’ | ‘round’ | ‘projecting’]
solid_joinstyle	[‘miter’ | ‘round’ | ‘bevel’]
transform	a matplotlib.transforms.Transform instance
url	a url string
visible	bool
xdata	1D array
ydata	1D array
zorder	float

See also

matplotlib.dates

Helper functions on dates.

matplotlib.dates.date2num

Convert dates to num.

matplotlib.dates.num2date

Convert num to dates.

matplotlib.dates.drange

Create an equally spaced sequence of dates.

Notes

If you are using custom date tickers and formatters, it may be necessary to set the formatters/locators after the call to plot_date. plot_date will set the default tick locator to AutoDateLocator (if the tick locator is not already set to a DateLocator instance) and the default tick formatter to AutoDateFormatter (if the tick formatter is not already set to a DateFormatter instance).

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 arguments with the following names: ‘x’, ‘y’.