matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot_date

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

A plot with data that contains dates.

Similar to the plot() command, except the x or y (or both) data is considered to be dates, and the axis is labeled accordingly.

x and/or y can be a sequence of dates represented as float days since 0001-01-01 UTC.

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

Parameters:

fmt : string

The plot format string.

tz : [ None | timezone string | tzinfo instance]

The time zone to use in labeling dates. If None, defaults to rc value.

xdate : boolean

If True, the x-axis will be labeled with dates.

ydate : boolean

If True, the y-axis will be labeled with dates.

Returns:

lines

Other Parameters:

kwargs : matplotlib.lines.Line2D

properties :

Property	Description
`agg_filter`	unknown
`alpha`	float (0.0 transparent through 1.0 opaque)
`animated`	[True \| False]
`antialiased` or aa	[True \| False]
`axes`	an `Axes` instance
`clip_box`	a `matplotlib.transforms.Bbox` instance
`clip_on`	[True \| False]
`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 `matplotlib.figure.Figure` instance
`fillstyle`	[‘full’ \| ‘left’ \| ‘right’ \| ‘bottom’ \| ‘top’ \| ‘none’]
`gid`	an id string
`label`	string or anything printable with ‘%s’ conversion.
`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`	unknown
`picker`	float distance in points or callable pick function `fn(artist, event)`
`pickradius`	float distance in points
`rasterized`	[True \| False \| None]
`sketch_params`	unknown
`snap`	unknown
`solid_capstyle`	[‘butt’ \| ‘round’ \| ‘projecting’]
`solid_joinstyle`	[‘miter’ \| ‘round’ \| ‘bevel’]
`transform`	a `matplotlib.transforms.Transform` instance
`url`	a url string
`visible`	[True \| False]
`xdata`	1D array
`ydata`	1D array
`zorder`	any number

.. 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’.