Set and get properties

The pyplot interface allows you to use setp and getp to set and get object properties respectively, as well as to do introspection on the object.

Setting with setp

To set the linestyle of a line to be dashed, you use setp:

>>> line, = plt.plot([1, 2, 3])
>>> plt.setp(line, linestyle='--')

If you want to know the valid types of arguments, you can provide the name of the property you want to set without a value:

>>> plt.setp(line, 'linestyle')
    linestyle: {'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}

If you want to see all the properties that can be set, and their possible values, you can do:

>>> plt.setp(line)

setp operates on a single instance or a list of instances. If you are in query mode introspecting the possible values, only the first instance in the sequence is used. When actually setting values, all the instances will be set. For example, suppose you have a list of two lines, the following will make both lines thicker and red:

>>> x = np.arange(0, 1, 0.01)
>>> y1 = np.sin(2*np.pi*x)
>>> y2 = np.sin(4*np.pi*x)
>>> lines = plt.plot(x, y1, x, y2)
>>> plt.setp(lines, linewidth=2, color='r')

Getting with getp

getp returns the value of a given attribute. You can use it to query the value of a single attribute:

>>> plt.getp(line, 'linewidth')
    0.5

or all the attribute/value pairs:

>>> plt.getp(line)
    aa = True
    alpha = 1.0
    antialiased = True
    c = b
    clip_on = True
    color = b
    ... long listing skipped ...

Aliases

To reduce keystrokes in interactive mode, a number of properties have short aliases, e.g., 'lw' for 'linewidth' and 'mec' for 'markeredgecolor'. When calling set or get in introspection mode, these properties will be listed as 'fullname' or 'aliasname'.

Out:

Line setters
  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 or None
  animated: bool
  antialiased or aa: bool
  clip_box: `.Bbox`
  clip_on: bool
  clip_path: Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
  color or c: color
  contains: unknown
  dash_capstyle: {'butt', 'round', 'projecting'}
  dash_joinstyle: {'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
  dashes: sequence of floats (on/off ink in points) or (None, None)
  data: (2, N) array or two 1D arrays
  drawstyle or ds: {'default', 'steps', 'steps-pre', 'steps-mid', 'steps-post'}, default: 'default'
  figure: `.Figure`
  fillstyle: {'full', 'left', 'right', 'bottom', 'top', 'none'}
  gid: str
  in_layout: bool
  label: object
  linestyle or ls: {'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}
  linewidth or lw: float
  marker: marker style string, `~.path.Path` or `~.markers.MarkerStyle`
  markeredgecolor or mec: color
  markeredgewidth or mew: float
  markerfacecolor or mfc: color
  markerfacecoloralt or mfcalt: color
  markersize or ms: float
  markevery: None or int or (int, int) or slice or List[int] or float or (float, float) or List[bool]
  path_effects: `.AbstractPathEffect`
  picker: unknown
  pickradius: float
  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: `matplotlib.transforms.Transform`
  url: str
  visible: bool
  xdata: 1D array
  ydata: 1D array
  zorder: float
Line getters
    agg_filter = None
    alpha = None
    animated = False
    antialiased or aa = True
    children = []
    clip_box = TransformedBbox(     Bbox(x0=0.0, y0=0.0, x1=1.0, ...
    clip_on = True
    clip_path = None
    color or c = r
    contains = None
    dash_capstyle = butt
    dash_joinstyle = round
    data = (array([0.  , 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, 0.06, ...
    drawstyle or ds = default
    figure = Figure(640x480)
    fillstyle = full
    gid = None
    in_layout = True
    label = _line0
    linestyle or ls = --
    linewidth or lw = 2.0
    marker = None
    markeredgecolor or mec = r
    markeredgewidth or mew = 1.0
    markerfacecolor or mfc = r
    markerfacecoloralt or mfcalt = none
    markersize or ms = 6.0
    markevery = None
    path = Path(array([[ 0.00000000e+00,  0.00000000e+00],   ...
    path_effects = []
    picker = None
    pickradius = 5
    rasterized = None
    sketch_params = None
    snap = None
    solid_capstyle = projecting
    solid_joinstyle = round
    transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     TransformWrapper(  ...
    transformed_clip_path_and_affine = (None, None)
    url = None
    visible = True
    xdata = [0.   0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05]...
    xydata = [[0.         0.        ]  [0.01       0.06279052] ...
    ydata = [0.         0.06279052 0.12533323 0.18738131 0.248...
    zorder = 2
Rectangle setters
  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 or None
  animated: bool
  antialiased or aa: unknown
  bounds: (left, bottom, width, height)
  capstyle: {'butt', 'round', 'projecting'}
  clip_box: `.Bbox`
  clip_on: bool
  clip_path: Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
  color: color
  contains: unknown
  edgecolor or ec: color or None or 'auto'
  facecolor or fc: color or None
  figure: `.Figure`
  fill: bool
  gid: str
  hatch: {'/', '\\', '|', '-', '+', 'x', 'o', 'O', '.', '*'}
  height: unknown
  in_layout: bool
  joinstyle: {'miter', 'round', 'bevel'}
  label: object
  linestyle or ls: {'-', '--', '-.', ':', '', (offset, on-off-seq), ...}
  linewidth or lw: float or None
  path_effects: `.AbstractPathEffect`
  picker: None or bool or callable
  rasterized: bool or None
  sketch_params: (scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
  snap: bool or None
  transform: `.Transform`
  url: str
  visible: bool
  width: unknown
  x: unknown
  xy: (float, float)
  y: unknown
  zorder: float
Rectangle getters
    agg_filter = None
    alpha = None
    animated = False
    antialiased or aa = True
    bbox = Bbox(x0=0.0, y0=0.0, x1=1.0, y1=1.0)
    capstyle = butt
    children = []
    clip_box = None
    clip_on = True
    clip_path = None
    contains = None
    data_transform = BboxTransformTo(     TransformedBbox(         Bbox...
    edgecolor or ec = (0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0)
    extents = Bbox(x0=80.0, y0=52.8, x1=576.0, y1=422.4)
    facecolor or fc = (1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
    figure = Figure(640x480)
    fill = True
    gid = None
    hatch = None
    height = 1.0
    in_layout = True
    joinstyle = miter
    label =
    linestyle or ls = solid
    linewidth or lw = 0.0
    patch_transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     BboxTransformTo(   ...
    path = Path(array([[0., 0.],        [1., 0.],        [1.,...
    path_effects = []
    picker = None
    rasterized = None
    sketch_params = None
    snap = None
    transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     CompositeGenericTra...
    transformed_clip_path_and_affine = (None, None)
    url = None
    verts = [[ 80.   52.8]  [576.   52.8]  [576.  422.4]  [ 80...
    visible = True
    width = 1.0
    window_extent = Bbox(x0=80.0, y0=52.8, x1=576.0, y1=422.4)
    x = 0.0
    xy = (0.0, 0.0)
    y = 0.0
    zorder = 1
Text setters
  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 or None
  animated: bool
  backgroundcolor: color
  bbox: dict with properties for `.patches.FancyBboxPatch`
  clip_box: `.Bbox`
  clip_on: bool
  clip_path: Patch or (Path, Transform) or None
  color or c: color
  contains: unknown
  figure: `.Figure`
  fontfamily or family: {FONTNAME, 'serif', 'sans-serif', 'cursive', 'fantasy', 'monospace'}
  fontproperties or font or font_properties: `.font_manager.FontProperties` or `str` or `pathlib.Path`
  fontsize or size: float or {'xx-small', 'x-small', 'small', 'medium', 'large', 'x-large', 'xx-large'}
  fontstretch or stretch: {a numeric value in range 0-1000, 'ultra-condensed', 'extra-condensed', 'condensed', 'semi-condensed', 'normal', 'semi-expanded', 'expanded', 'extra-expanded', 'ultra-expanded'}
  fontstyle or style: {'normal', 'italic', 'oblique'}
  fontvariant or variant: {'normal', 'small-caps'}
  fontweight or weight: {a numeric value in range 0-1000, 'ultralight', 'light', 'normal', 'regular', 'book', 'medium', 'roman', 'semibold', 'demibold', 'demi', 'bold', 'heavy', 'extra bold', 'black'}
  gid: str
  horizontalalignment or ha: {'center', 'right', 'left'}
  in_layout: bool
  label: object
  linespacing: float (multiple of font size)
  multialignment or ma: {'left', 'right', 'center'}
  path_effects: `.AbstractPathEffect`
  picker: None or bool or callable
  position: (float, float)
  rasterized: bool or None
  rotation: float or {'vertical', 'horizontal'}
  rotation_mode: {None, 'default', 'anchor'}
  sketch_params: (scale: float, length: float, randomness: float)
  snap: bool or None
  text: object
  transform: `.Transform`
  url: str
  usetex: bool or None
  verticalalignment or va: {'center', 'top', 'bottom', 'baseline', 'center_baseline'}
  visible: bool
  wrap: bool
  x: float
  y: float
  zorder: float
Text getters
    agg_filter = None
    alpha = None
    animated = False
    bbox_patch = None
    children = []
    clip_box = None
    clip_on = True
    clip_path = None
    color or c = black
    contains = None
    figure = Figure(640x480)
    fontfamily or family = ['sans-serif']
    fontname or name = DejaVu Sans
    fontproperties or font or font_properties = sans\-serif:style=normal:variant=normal:weight=nor...
    fontsize or size = 12.0
    fontstyle or style = normal
    fontvariant or variant = normal
    fontweight or weight = normal
    gid = None
    horizontalalignment or ha = center
    in_layout = True
    label =
    path_effects = []
    picker = None
    position = (0.5, 1.0)
    rasterized = None
    rotation = 0.0
    rotation_mode = None
    sketch_params = None
    snap = None
    stretch = normal
    text = Hi mom
    transform = CompositeGenericTransform(     BboxTransformTo(   ...
    transformed_clip_path_and_affine = (None, None)
    unitless_position = (0.5, 1.0)
    url = None
    usetex = False
    verticalalignment or va = baseline
    visible = True
    wrap = False
    zorder = 3

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np


x = np.arange(0, 1.0, 0.01)
y1 = np.sin(2*np.pi*x)
y2 = np.sin(4*np.pi*x)
lines = plt.plot(x, y1, x, y2)
l1, l2 = lines
plt.setp(lines, linestyle='--')       # set both to dashed
plt.setp(l1, linewidth=2, color='r')  # line1 is thick and red
plt.setp(l2, linewidth=1, color='g')  # line2 is thinner and green


print('Line setters')
plt.setp(l1)
print('Line getters')
plt.getp(l1)

print('Rectangle setters')
plt.setp(plt.gca().patch)
print('Rectangle getters')
plt.getp(plt.gca().patch)

t = plt.title('Hi mom')
print('Text setters')
plt.setp(t)
print('Text getters')
plt.getp(t)

plt.show()