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<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>

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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">API Overview</a><ul>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#the-pyplot-api">The pyplot API</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#the-object-oriented-api">The object-oriented API</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#the-pylab-api-disapproved">The pylab API (disapproved)</a></li>

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<div class="section" id="api-overview">

<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id1">API Overview</a><a class="headerlink" href="#api-overview" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>

<p>Below we describe several common approaches to plotting with Matplotlib.</p>

<div class="contents topic" id="contents">

<p class="topic-title first">Contents</p>

<ul class="simple">

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#api-overview" id="id1">API Overview</a><ul>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#the-pyplot-api" id="id2">The pyplot API</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#the-object-oriented-api" id="id3">The object-oriented API</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#the-pylab-api-disapproved" id="id4">The pylab API (disapproved)</a></li>

<div class="section" id="the-pyplot-api">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">The pyplot API</a><a class="headerlink" href="#the-pyplot-api" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<p><a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot</span></code></a> 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.</p>

<p><a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot</span></code></a> is mainly intended for interactive plots and simple cases of

programmatic plot generation.</p>

<p>Further reading:</p>

<ul class="simple">

<li>The <a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot</span></code></a> function reference</li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="../tutorials/introductory/pyplot.html"><span class="doc">Pyplot tutorial</span></a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/index.html#pyplots-examples"><span class="std std-ref">Pyplot examples</span></a></li>

<div class="section" id="the-object-oriented-api">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">The object-oriented API</a><a class="headerlink" href="#the-object-oriented-api" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<p>At its core, Matbplotlib is object-oriented. We recommend directly working

with the objects, if you need more control and customization of your plots.</p>

<p>In many cases you will create a <a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.figure.Figure.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure</span></code></a> and one or more

<a class="reference internal" href="axes_api.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Axes</span></code></a> using <a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplots.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplots" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplots"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot.subplots</span></code></a> and from then on only work

on these objects. However, it's also possible to create <a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.figure.Figure.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure</span></code></a>s

explicitly (e.g. when including them in GUI applications).</p>

<p>Further reading:</p>

<ul class="simple">

<li><a class="reference internal" href="axes_api.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.axes.Axes</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.figure.Figure.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.figure.Figure</span></code></a> for an overview of

plotting functions.</li>

<li>Most of the <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/index.html#examples-index"><span class="std std-ref">examples</span></a> use the object-oriented approach

(except for the pyplot section)</li>

<li>The list of <a class="reference internal" href="index.html"><span class="doc">matplotlib modules</span></a>.</li>

<div class="section" id="the-pylab-api-disapproved">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4">The pylab API (disapproved)</a><a class="headerlink" href="#the-pylab-api-disapproved" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<div class="admonition warning">

<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>

<p class="last">Since heavily importing into the global namespace may result in unexpected

behavior, the use of pylab is strongly discouraged. Use <a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot</span></code></a>

instead.</p>

<p><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pylab</span></code> is a module that includes <a class="reference internal" href="_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.html#module-matplotlib.pyplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot</span></code></a>, <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/reference/index.html#module-numpy" title="(in NumPy v1.15)"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">numpy</span></code></a>

and some additional functions within a single namespace. It's original puropse

was to mimic a MATLAB-like way of working by importing all functions into the

global namespace. This is considered bad style nowadays.</p>

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