Visualization

We use the standard convention for referencing the matplotlib API:

In [1]: import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

The plots in this document are made using matplotlib’s ggplot style (new in version 1.4):

import matplotlib
matplotlib.style.use('ggplot')

We provide the basics in pandas to easily create decent looking plots. See the ecosystem section for visualization libraries that go beyond the basics documented here.

Note

All calls to np.random are seeded with 123456.

Basic Plotting: plot

See the cookbook for some advanced strategies

The plot method on Series and DataFrame is just a simple wrapper around plt.plot():

In [2]: ts = pd.Series(np.random.randn(1000), index=pd.date_range('1/1/2000', periods=1000))

In [3]: ts = ts.cumsum()

In [4]: ts.plot()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-4-132f3667ee95> in <module>()
----> 1 ts.plot()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/series_plot_basic.png

If the index consists of dates, it calls gcf().autofmt_xdate() to try to format the x-axis nicely as per above.

On DataFrame, plot() is a convenience to plot all of the columns with labels:

In [5]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000, 4), index=ts.index, columns=list('ABCD'))

In [6]: df = df.cumsum()

In [7]: plt.figure(); df.plot();
_static/frame_plot_basic.png

You can plot one column versus another using the x and y keywords in plot():

In [8]: df3 = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000, 2), columns=['B', 'C']).cumsum()

In [9]: df3['A'] = pd.Series(list(range(len(df))))

In [10]: df3.plot(x='A', y='B')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-10-055fbe5d7ac8> in <module>()
----> 1 df3.plot(x='A', y='B')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/df_plot_xy.png

Note

For more formatting and styling options, see below.

Other Plots

Plotting methods allow for a handful of plot styles other than the default Line plot. These methods can be provided as the kind keyword argument to plot(). These include:

For example, a bar plot can be created the following way:

In [11]: plt.figure();

In [12]: df.ix[5].plot(kind='bar'); plt.axhline(0, color='k')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-12-3bc76e323eb4> in <module>()
----> 1 df.ix[5].plot(kind='bar'); plt.axhline(0, color='k')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/bar_plot_ex.png

New in version 0.17.0.

You can also create these other plots using the methods DataFrame.plot.<kind> instead of providing the kind keyword argument. This makes it easier to discover plot methods and the specific arguments they use:

In [13]: df = pd.DataFrame()

In [14]: df.plot.<TAB>
df.plot.area     df.plot.barh     df.plot.density  df.plot.hist     df.plot.line     df.plot.scatter
df.plot.bar      df.plot.box      df.plot.hexbin   df.plot.kde      df.plot.pie

In addition to these kind s, there are the DataFrame.hist(), and DataFrame.boxplot() methods, which use a separate interface.

Finally, there are several plotting functions in pandas.tools.plotting that take a Series or DataFrame as an argument. These include

Plots may also be adorned with errorbars or tables.

Bar plots

For labeled, non-time series data, you may wish to produce a bar plot:

In [15]: plt.figure();

In [16]: df.ix[5].plot.bar(); plt.axhline(0, color='k')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-16-5cefc150bb1b> in <module>()
----> 1 df.ix[5].plot.bar(); plt.axhline(0, color='k')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in bar(self, **kwds)
   3633         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3634         """
-> 3635         return self(kind='bar', **kwds)
   3636 
   3637     def barh(self, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/bar_plot_ex.png

Calling a DataFrame’s plot.bar() method produces a multiple bar plot:

In [17]: df2 = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(10, 4), columns=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])

In [18]: df2.plot.bar();
_static/bar_plot_multi_ex.png

To produce a stacked bar plot, pass stacked=True:

In [19]: df2.plot.bar(stacked=True);
_static/bar_plot_stacked_ex.png

To get horizontal bar plots, use the barh method:

In [20]: df2.plot.barh(stacked=True);
_static/barh_plot_stacked_ex.png

Histograms

New in version 0.15.0.

Histogram can be drawn by using the DataFrame.plot.hist() and Series.plot.hist() methods.

In [21]: df4 = pd.DataFrame({'a': np.random.randn(1000) + 1, 'b': np.random.randn(1000),
   ....:                     'c': np.random.randn(1000) - 1}, columns=['a', 'b', 'c'])
   ....: 

In [22]: plt.figure();

In [23]: df4.plot.hist(alpha=0.5)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-23-6acc39dda3b6> in <module>()
----> 1 df4.plot.hist(alpha=0.5)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hist(self, by, bins, **kwds)
   3870         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3871         """
-> 3872         return self(kind='hist', by=by, bins=bins, **kwds)
   3873 
   3874     def kde(self, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/hist_new.png

Histogram can be stacked by stacked=True. Bin size can be changed by bins keyword.

In [24]: plt.figure();

In [25]: df4.plot.hist(stacked=True, bins=20)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-25-b2b6c7aa4c14> in <module>()
----> 1 df4.plot.hist(stacked=True, bins=20)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hist(self, by, bins, **kwds)
   3870         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3871         """
-> 3872         return self(kind='hist', by=by, bins=bins, **kwds)
   3873 
   3874     def kde(self, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/hist_new_stacked.png

You can pass other keywords supported by matplotlib hist. For example, horizontal and cumulative histgram can be drawn by orientation='horizontal' and cumulative='True'.

In [26]: plt.figure();

In [27]: df4['a'].plot.hist(orientation='horizontal', cumulative=True)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-27-8723cae3761d> in <module>()
----> 1 df4['a'].plot.hist(orientation='horizontal', cumulative=True)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hist(self, bins, **kwds)
   3686         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3687         """
-> 3688         return self(kind='hist', bins=bins, **kwds)
   3689 
   3690     def kde(self, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/hist_new_kwargs.png

See the hist method and the matplotlib hist documentation for more.

The existing interface DataFrame.hist to plot histogram still can be used.

In [28]: plt.figure();

In [29]: df['A'].diff().hist()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-29-b7a456963eec> in <module>()
----> 1 df['A'].diff().hist()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hist_series(self, by, ax, grid, xlabelsize, xrot, ylabelsize, yrot, figsize, bins, **kwds)
   2977         # hack until the plotting interface is a bit more unified
   2978         fig = kwds.pop('figure', plt.gcf() if plt.get_fignums() else
-> 2979                        plt.figure(figsize=figsize))
   2980         if (figsize is not None and tuple(figsize) !=
   2981                 tuple(fig.get_size_inches())):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/hist_plot_ex.png

DataFrame.hist() plots the histograms of the columns on multiple subplots:

In [30]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-30-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [31]: df.diff().hist(color='k', alpha=0.5, bins=50)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-31-5a9111f991c3> in <module>()
----> 1 df.diff().hist(color='k', alpha=0.5, bins=50)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hist_frame(data, column, by, grid, xlabelsize, xrot, ylabelsize, yrot, ax, sharex, sharey, figsize, layout, bins, **kwds)
   2919     fig, axes = _subplots(naxes=naxes, ax=ax, squeeze=False,
   2920                           sharex=sharex, sharey=sharey, figsize=figsize,
-> 2921                           layout=layout)
   2922     _axes = _flatten(axes)
   2923 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/frame_hist_ex.png

New in version 0.10.0.

The by keyword can be specified to plot grouped histograms:

In [32]: data = pd.Series(np.random.randn(1000))

In [33]: data.hist(by=np.random.randint(0, 4, 1000), figsize=(6, 4))
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-33-1bdd7ccb1dc8> in <module>()
----> 1 data.hist(by=np.random.randint(0, 4, 1000), figsize=(6, 4))

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hist_series(self, by, ax, grid, xlabelsize, xrot, ylabelsize, yrot, figsize, bins, **kwds)
   3001         axes = grouped_hist(self, by=by, ax=ax, grid=grid, figsize=figsize,
   3002                             bins=bins, xlabelsize=xlabelsize, xrot=xrot,
-> 3003                             ylabelsize=ylabelsize, yrot=yrot, **kwds)
   3004 
   3005     if hasattr(axes, 'ndim'):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in grouped_hist(data, column, by, ax, bins, figsize, layout, sharex, sharey, rot, grid, xlabelsize, xrot, ylabelsize, yrot, **kwargs)
   3042     fig, axes = _grouped_plot(plot_group, data, column=column,
   3043                               by=by, sharex=sharex, sharey=sharey, ax=ax,
-> 3044                               figsize=figsize, layout=layout, rot=rot)
   3045 
   3046     _set_ticks_props(axes, xlabelsize=xlabelsize, xrot=xrot,

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _grouped_plot(plotf, data, column, by, numeric_only, figsize, sharex, sharey, layout, rot, ax, **kwargs)
   3147     fig, axes = _subplots(naxes=naxes, figsize=figsize,
   3148                           sharex=sharex, sharey=sharey, ax=ax,
-> 3149                           layout=layout)
   3150 
   3151     _axes = _flatten(axes)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/grouped_hist.png

Box Plots

New in version 0.15.0.

Boxplot can be drawn calling Series.plot.box() and DataFrame.plot.box(), or DataFrame.boxplot() to visualize the distribution of values within each column.

For instance, here is a boxplot representing five trials of 10 observations of a uniform random variable on [0,1).

In [34]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(10, 5), columns=['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'])

In [35]: df.plot.box()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-35-1c06d29ad176> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot.box()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in box(self, by, **kwds)
   3849         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3850         """
-> 3851         return self(kind='box', by=by, **kwds)
   3852 
   3853     def hist(self, by=None, bins=10, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/box_plot_new.png

Boxplot can be colorized by passing color keyword. You can pass a dict whose keys are boxes, whiskers, medians and caps. If some keys are missing in the dict, default colors are used for the corresponding artists. Also, boxplot has sym keyword to specify fliers style.

When you pass other type of arguments via color keyword, it will be directly passed to matplotlib for all the boxes, whiskers, medians and caps colorization.

The colors are applied to every boxes to be drawn. If you want more complicated colorization, you can get each drawn artists by passing return_type.

In [36]: color = dict(boxes='DarkGreen', whiskers='DarkOrange',
   ....:              medians='DarkBlue', caps='Gray')
   ....: 

In [37]: df.plot.box(color=color, sym='r+')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-37-1065c7c43ad7> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot.box(color=color, sym='r+')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in box(self, by, **kwds)
   3849         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3850         """
-> 3851         return self(kind='box', by=by, **kwds)
   3852 
   3853     def hist(self, by=None, bins=10, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/box_new_colorize.png

Also, you can pass other keywords supported by matplotlib boxplot. For example, horizontal and custom-positioned boxplot can be drawn by vert=False and positions keywords.

In [38]: df.plot.box(vert=False, positions=[1, 4, 5, 6, 8])
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-38-170dbce387ae> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot.box(vert=False, positions=[1, 4, 5, 6, 8])

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in box(self, by, **kwds)
   3849         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3850         """
-> 3851         return self(kind='box', by=by, **kwds)
   3852 
   3853     def hist(self, by=None, bins=10, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/box_new_kwargs.png

See the boxplot method and the matplotlib boxplot documentation for more.

The existing interface DataFrame.boxplot to plot boxplot still can be used.

In [39]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(10,5))

In [40]: plt.figure();

In [41]: bp = df.boxplot()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-41-b1e3b3d5c3ca> in <module>()
----> 1 bp = df.boxplot()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/core/frame.pyc in boxplot(self, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   5747     ax = plots.boxplot(self, column=column, by=by, ax=ax, fontsize=fontsize,
   5748                        grid=grid, rot=rot, figsize=figsize, layout=layout,
-> 5749                        return_type=return_type, **kwds)
   5750     plt.draw_if_interactive()
   5751     return ax

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in boxplot(data, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   2788 
   2789         if ax is None:
-> 2790             ax = _gca()
   2791         data = data._get_numeric_data()
   2792         if columns is None:

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _gca()
    428 def _gca():
    429     import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
--> 430     return plt.gca()
    431 
    432 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/box_plot_ex.png

You can create a stratified boxplot using the by keyword argument to create groupings. For instance,

In [42]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(10,2), columns=['Col1', 'Col2'] )

In [43]: df['X'] = pd.Series(['A','A','A','A','A','B','B','B','B','B'])

In [44]: plt.figure();

In [45]: bp = df.boxplot(by='X')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-45-9a5b473d5a3e> in <module>()
----> 1 bp = df.boxplot(by='X')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/core/frame.pyc in boxplot(self, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   5747     ax = plots.boxplot(self, column=column, by=by, ax=ax, fontsize=fontsize,
   5748                        grid=grid, rot=rot, figsize=figsize, layout=layout,
-> 5749                        return_type=return_type, **kwds)
   5750     plt.draw_if_interactive()
   5751     return ax

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in boxplot(data, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   2779                                          by=by, grid=grid, figsize=figsize,
   2780                                          ax=ax, layout=layout,
-> 2781                                          return_type=return_type)
   2782     else:
   2783         if return_type is None:

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _grouped_plot_by_column(plotf, data, columns, by, numeric_only, grid, figsize, ax, layout, return_type, **kwargs)
   3172     naxes = len(columns)
   3173     fig, axes = _subplots(naxes=naxes, sharex=True, sharey=True,
-> 3174                           figsize=figsize, ax=ax, layout=layout)
   3175 
   3176     _axes = _flatten(axes)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/box_plot_ex2.png

You can also pass a subset of columns to plot, as well as group by multiple columns:

In [46]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(10,3), columns=['Col1', 'Col2', 'Col3'])

In [47]: df['X'] = pd.Series(['A','A','A','A','A','B','B','B','B','B'])

In [48]: df['Y'] = pd.Series(['A','B','A','B','A','B','A','B','A','B'])

In [49]: plt.figure();

In [50]: bp = df.boxplot(column=['Col1','Col2'], by=['X','Y'])
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-50-ccf0e8f85318> in <module>()
----> 1 bp = df.boxplot(column=['Col1','Col2'], by=['X','Y'])

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/core/frame.pyc in boxplot(self, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   5747     ax = plots.boxplot(self, column=column, by=by, ax=ax, fontsize=fontsize,
   5748                        grid=grid, rot=rot, figsize=figsize, layout=layout,
-> 5749                        return_type=return_type, **kwds)
   5750     plt.draw_if_interactive()
   5751     return ax

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in boxplot(data, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   2779                                          by=by, grid=grid, figsize=figsize,
   2780                                          ax=ax, layout=layout,
-> 2781                                          return_type=return_type)
   2782     else:
   2783         if return_type is None:

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _grouped_plot_by_column(plotf, data, columns, by, numeric_only, grid, figsize, ax, layout, return_type, **kwargs)
   3172     naxes = len(columns)
   3173     fig, axes = _subplots(naxes=naxes, sharex=True, sharey=True,
-> 3174                           figsize=figsize, ax=ax, layout=layout)
   3175 
   3176     _axes = _flatten(axes)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/box_plot_ex3.png

Warning

The default changed from 'dict' to 'axes' in version 0.19.0.

In boxplot, the return type can be controlled by the return_type, keyword. The valid choices are {"axes", "dict", "both", None}. Faceting, created by DataFrame.boxplot with the by keyword, will affect the output type as well:

return_type= Faceted Output type
None No axes
None Yes 2-D ndarray of axes
'axes' No axes
'axes' Yes Series of axes
'dict' No dict of artists
'dict' Yes Series of dicts of artists
'both' No namedtuple
'both' Yes Series of namedtuples

Groupby.boxplot always returns a Series of return_type.

In [51]: np.random.seed(1234)

In [52]: df_box = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(50, 2))

In [53]: df_box['g'] = np.random.choice(['A', 'B'], size=50)

In [54]: df_box.loc[df_box['g'] == 'B', 1] += 3

In [55]: bp = df_box.boxplot(by='g')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-55-2767ce298202> in <module>()
----> 1 bp = df_box.boxplot(by='g')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/core/frame.pyc in boxplot(self, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   5747     ax = plots.boxplot(self, column=column, by=by, ax=ax, fontsize=fontsize,
   5748                        grid=grid, rot=rot, figsize=figsize, layout=layout,
-> 5749                        return_type=return_type, **kwds)
   5750     plt.draw_if_interactive()
   5751     return ax

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in boxplot(data, column, by, ax, fontsize, rot, grid, figsize, layout, return_type, **kwds)
   2779                                          by=by, grid=grid, figsize=figsize,
   2780                                          ax=ax, layout=layout,
-> 2781                                          return_type=return_type)
   2782     else:
   2783         if return_type is None:

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _grouped_plot_by_column(plotf, data, columns, by, numeric_only, grid, figsize, ax, layout, return_type, **kwargs)
   3172     naxes = len(columns)
   3173     fig, axes = _subplots(naxes=naxes, sharex=True, sharey=True,
-> 3174                           figsize=figsize, ax=ax, layout=layout)
   3175 
   3176     _axes = _flatten(axes)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/boxplot_groupby.png

Compare to:

In [56]: bp = df_box.groupby('g').boxplot()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-56-e648d2cd2f8b> in <module>()
----> 1 bp = df_box.groupby('g').boxplot()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in boxplot_frame_groupby(grouped, subplots, column, fontsize, rot, grid, ax, figsize, layout, **kwds)
   3102         fig, axes = _subplots(naxes=naxes, squeeze=False,
   3103                               ax=ax, sharex=False, sharey=True,
-> 3104                               figsize=figsize, layout=layout)
   3105         axes = _flatten(axes)
   3106 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/groupby_boxplot_vis.png

Area Plot

New in version 0.14.

You can create area plots with Series.plot.area() and DataFrame.plot.area(). Area plots are stacked by default. To produce stacked area plot, each column must be either all positive or all negative values.

When input data contains NaN, it will be automatically filled by 0. If you want to drop or fill by different values, use dataframe.dropna() or dataframe.fillna() before calling plot.

In [57]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(10, 4), columns=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])

In [58]: df.plot.area();
_static/area_plot_stacked.png

To produce an unstacked plot, pass stacked=False. Alpha value is set to 0.5 unless otherwise specified:

In [59]: df.plot.area(stacked=False);
_static/area_plot_unstacked.png

Scatter Plot

New in version 0.13.

Scatter plot can be drawn by using the DataFrame.plot.scatter() method. Scatter plot requires numeric columns for x and y axis. These can be specified by x and y keywords each.

In [60]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(50, 4), columns=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])

In [61]: df.plot.scatter(x='a', y='b');
_static/scatter_plot.png

To plot multiple column groups in a single axes, repeat plot method specifying target ax. It is recommended to specify color and label keywords to distinguish each groups.

In [62]: ax = df.plot.scatter(x='a', y='b', color='DarkBlue', label='Group 1');

In [63]: df.plot.scatter(x='c', y='d', color='DarkGreen', label='Group 2', ax=ax);
_static/scatter_plot_repeated.png

The keyword c may be given as the name of a column to provide colors for each point:

In [64]: df.plot.scatter(x='a', y='b', c='c', s=50);
_static/scatter_plot_colored.png

You can pass other keywords supported by matplotlib scatter. Below example shows a bubble chart using a dataframe column values as bubble size.

In [65]: df.plot.scatter(x='a', y='b', s=df['c']*200);
_static/scatter_plot_bubble.png

See the scatter method and the matplotlib scatter documentation for more.

Hexagonal Bin Plot

New in version 0.14.

You can create hexagonal bin plots with DataFrame.plot.hexbin(). Hexbin plots can be a useful alternative to scatter plots if your data are too dense to plot each point individually.

In [66]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000, 2), columns=['a', 'b'])

In [67]: df['b'] = df['b'] + np.arange(1000)

In [68]: df.plot.hexbin(x='a', y='b', gridsize=25)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-68-931ca14c8f58> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot.hexbin(x='a', y='b', gridsize=25)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hexbin(self, x, y, C, reduce_C_function, gridsize, **kwds)
   3981         if gridsize is not None:
   3982             kwds['gridsize'] = gridsize
-> 3983         return self(kind='hexbin', x=x, y=y, C=C, **kwds)
   3984 
   3985 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/hexbin_plot.png

A useful keyword argument is gridsize; it controls the number of hexagons in the x-direction, and defaults to 100. A larger gridsize means more, smaller bins.

By default, a histogram of the counts around each (x, y) point is computed. You can specify alternative aggregations by passing values to the C and reduce_C_function arguments. C specifies the value at each (x, y) point and reduce_C_function is a function of one argument that reduces all the values in a bin to a single number (e.g. mean, max, sum, std). In this example the positions are given by columns a and b, while the value is given by column z. The bins are aggregated with numpy’s max function.

In [69]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000, 2), columns=['a', 'b'])

In [70]: df['b'] = df['b'] = df['b'] + np.arange(1000)

In [71]: df['z'] = np.random.uniform(0, 3, 1000)

In [72]: df.plot.hexbin(x='a', y='b', C='z', reduce_C_function=np.max,
   ....:         gridsize=25)
   ....: 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-72-421008c4d692> in <module>()
      1 df.plot.hexbin(x='a', y='b', C='z', reduce_C_function=np.max,
----> 2         gridsize=25)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in hexbin(self, x, y, C, reduce_C_function, gridsize, **kwds)
   3981         if gridsize is not None:
   3982             kwds['gridsize'] = gridsize
-> 3983         return self(kind='hexbin', x=x, y=y, C=C, **kwds)
   3984 
   3985 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/hexbin_plot_agg.png

See the hexbin method and the matplotlib hexbin documentation for more.

Pie plot

New in version 0.14.

You can create a pie plot with DataFrame.plot.pie() or Series.plot.pie(). If your data includes any NaN, they will be automatically filled with 0. A ValueError will be raised if there are any negative values in your data.

In [73]: series = pd.Series(3 * np.random.rand(4), index=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], name='series')

In [74]: series.plot.pie(figsize=(6, 6))
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-74-75da25d8eac6> in <module>()
----> 1 series.plot.pie(figsize=(6, 6))

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in pie(self, **kwds)
   3739         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3740         """
-> 3741         return self(kind='pie', **kwds)
   3742 
   3743 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/series_pie_plot.png

For pie plots it’s best to use square figures, one’s with an equal aspect ratio. You can create the figure with equal width and height, or force the aspect ratio to be equal after plotting by calling ax.set_aspect('equal') on the returned axes object.

Note that pie plot with DataFrame requires that you either specify a target column by the y argument or subplots=True. When y is specified, pie plot of selected column will be drawn. If subplots=True is specified, pie plots for each column are drawn as subplots. A legend will be drawn in each pie plots by default; specify legend=False to hide it.

In [75]: df = pd.DataFrame(3 * np.random.rand(4, 2), index=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], columns=['x', 'y'])

In [76]: df.plot.pie(subplots=True, figsize=(8, 4))
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-76-1805bde9930d> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot.pie(subplots=True, figsize=(8, 4))

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in pie(self, y, **kwds)
   3927         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3928         """
-> 3929         return self(kind='pie', y=y, **kwds)
   3930 
   3931     def scatter(self, x, y, s=None, c=None, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1088                                   figsize=self.figsize, ax=self.ax,
   1089                                   layout=self.layout,
-> 1090                                   layout_type=self._layout_type)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/df_pie_plot.png

You can use the labels and colors keywords to specify the labels and colors of each wedge.

Warning

Most pandas plots use the the label and color arguments (note the lack of “s” on those). To be consistent with matplotlib.pyplot.pie() you must use labels and colors.

If you want to hide wedge labels, specify labels=None. If fontsize is specified, the value will be applied to wedge labels. Also, other keywords supported by matplotlib.pyplot.pie() can be used.

In [77]: series.plot.pie(labels=['AA', 'BB', 'CC', 'DD'], colors=['r', 'g', 'b', 'c'],
   ....:                 autopct='%.2f', fontsize=20, figsize=(6, 6))
   ....: 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-77-b41a804220bc> in <module>()
      1 series.plot.pie(labels=['AA', 'BB', 'CC', 'DD'], colors=['r', 'g', 'b', 'c'],
----> 2                 autopct='%.2f', fontsize=20, figsize=(6, 6))

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in pie(self, **kwds)
   3739         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3740         """
-> 3741         return self(kind='pie', **kwds)
   3742 
   3743 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/series_pie_plot_options.png

If you pass values whose sum total is less than 1.0, matplotlib draws a semicircle.

In [78]: series = pd.Series([0.1] * 4, index=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], name='series2')

In [79]: series.plot.pie(figsize=(6, 6))
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-79-75da25d8eac6> in <module>()
----> 1 series.plot.pie(figsize=(6, 6))

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in pie(self, **kwds)
   3739         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3740         """
-> 3741         return self(kind='pie', **kwds)
   3742 
   3743 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/series_pie_plot_semi.png

See the matplotlib pie documentation for more.

Plotting with Missing Data

Pandas tries to be pragmatic about plotting DataFrames or Series that contain missing data. Missing values are dropped, left out, or filled depending on the plot type.

Plot Type NaN Handling
Line Leave gaps at NaNs
Line (stacked) Fill 0’s
Bar Fill 0’s
Scatter Drop NaNs
Histogram Drop NaNs (column-wise)
Box Drop NaNs (column-wise)
Area Fill 0’s
KDE Drop NaNs (column-wise)
Hexbin Drop NaNs
Pie Fill 0’s

If any of these defaults are not what you want, or if you want to be explicit about how missing values are handled, consider using fillna() or dropna() before plotting.

Plotting Tools

These functions can be imported from pandas.tools.plotting and take a Series or DataFrame as an argument.

Scatter Matrix Plot

New in version 0.7.3.

You can create a scatter plot matrix using the scatter_matrix method in pandas.tools.plotting:

In [80]: from pandas.tools.plotting import scatter_matrix

In [81]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000, 4), columns=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])

In [82]: scatter_matrix(df, alpha=0.2, figsize=(6, 6), diagonal='kde')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-82-5cffe88eb027> in <module>()
----> 1 scatter_matrix(df, alpha=0.2, figsize=(6, 6), diagonal='kde')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in scatter_matrix(frame, alpha, figsize, ax, grid, diagonal, marker, density_kwds, hist_kwds, range_padding, **kwds)
    347     naxes = n * n
    348     fig, axes = _subplots(naxes=naxes, figsize=figsize, ax=ax,
--> 349                           squeeze=False)
    350 
    351     # no gaps between subplots

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _subplots(naxes, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, ax, layout, layout_type, **fig_kw)
   3372 
   3373     if ax is None:
-> 3374         fig = plt.figure(**fig_kw)
   3375     else:
   3376         if is_list_like(ax):

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/scatter_matrix_kde.png

Density Plot

New in version 0.8.0.

You can create density plots using the Series.plot.kde() and DataFrame.plot.kde() methods.

In [83]: ser = pd.Series(np.random.randn(1000))

In [84]: ser.plot.kde()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-84-9f2410e73c46> in <module>()
----> 1 ser.plot.kde()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in kde(self, **kwds)
   3703         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3704         """
-> 3705         return self(kind='kde', **kwds)
   3706 
   3707     density = kde

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/kde_plot.png

Andrews Curves

Andrews curves allow one to plot multivariate data as a large number of curves that are created using the attributes of samples as coefficients for Fourier series. By coloring these curves differently for each class it is possible to visualize data clustering. Curves belonging to samples of the same class will usually be closer together and form larger structures.

Note: The “Iris” dataset is available here.

In [85]: from pandas.tools.plotting import andrews_curves

In [86]: data = pd.read_csv('data/iris.data')

In [87]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-87-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [88]: andrews_curves(data, 'Name')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-88-0f95ea8c8c98> in <module>()
----> 1 andrews_curves(data, 'Name')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/util/decorators.pyc in wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
     89                 else:
     90                     kwargs[new_arg_name] = new_arg_value
---> 91             return func(*args, **kwargs)
     92         return wrapper
     93     return _deprecate_kwarg

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in andrews_curves(frame, class_column, ax, samples, color, colormap, **kwds)
    604     colors = dict(zip(classes, color_values))
    605     if ax is None:
--> 606         ax = plt.gca(xlim=(-pi, pi))
    607     for i in range(n):
    608         row = df.iloc[i].values

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/andrews_curves.png

Parallel Coordinates

Parallel coordinates is a plotting technique for plotting multivariate data. It allows one to see clusters in data and to estimate other statistics visually. Using parallel coordinates points are represented as connected line segments. Each vertical line represents one attribute. One set of connected line segments represents one data point. Points that tend to cluster will appear closer together.

In [89]: from pandas.tools.plotting import parallel_coordinates

In [90]: data = pd.read_csv('data/iris.data')

In [91]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-91-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [92]: parallel_coordinates(data, 'Name')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-92-be6a93ae858a> in <module>()
----> 1 parallel_coordinates(data, 'Name')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/util/decorators.pyc in wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
     89                 else:
     90                     kwargs[new_arg_name] = new_arg_value
---> 91             return func(*args, **kwargs)
     92         return wrapper
     93     return _deprecate_kwarg

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/util/decorators.pyc in wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
     89                 else:
     90                     kwargs[new_arg_name] = new_arg_value
---> 91             return func(*args, **kwargs)
     92         return wrapper
     93     return _deprecate_kwarg

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in parallel_coordinates(frame, class_column, cols, ax, color, use_columns, xticks, colormap, axvlines, axvlines_kwds, **kwds)
    761 
    762     if ax is None:
--> 763         ax = plt.gca()
    764 
    765     color_values = _get_standard_colors(num_colors=len(classes),

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/parallel_coordinates.png

Lag Plot

Lag plots are used to check if a data set or time series is random. Random data should not exhibit any structure in the lag plot. Non-random structure implies that the underlying data are not random.

In [93]: from pandas.tools.plotting import lag_plot

In [94]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-94-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [95]: data = pd.Series(0.1 * np.random.rand(1000) +
   ....:     0.9 * np.sin(np.linspace(-99 * np.pi, 99 * np.pi, num=1000)))
   ....: 

In [96]: lag_plot(data)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-96-f8d9d4e4ce9e> in <module>()
----> 1 lag_plot(data)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in lag_plot(series, lag, ax, **kwds)
    814     y2 = data[lag:]
    815     if ax is None:
--> 816         ax = plt.gca()
    817     ax.set_xlabel("y(t)")
    818     ax.set_ylabel("y(t + %s)" % lag)

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/lag_plot.png

Autocorrelation Plot

Autocorrelation plots are often used for checking randomness in time series. This is done by computing autocorrelations for data values at varying time lags. If time series is random, such autocorrelations should be near zero for any and all time-lag separations. If time series is non-random then one or more of the autocorrelations will be significantly non-zero. The horizontal lines displayed in the plot correspond to 95% and 99% confidence bands. The dashed line is 99% confidence band.

In [97]: from pandas.tools.plotting import autocorrelation_plot

In [98]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-98-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [99]: data = pd.Series(0.7 * np.random.rand(1000) +
   ....:    0.3 * np.sin(np.linspace(-9 * np.pi, 9 * np.pi, num=1000)))
   ....: 

In [100]: autocorrelation_plot(data)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-100-d14de8189d5a> in <module>()
----> 1 autocorrelation_plot(data)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in autocorrelation_plot(series, ax, **kwds)
    839     data = np.asarray(series)
    840     if ax is None:
--> 841         ax = plt.gca(xlim=(1, n), ylim=(-1.0, 1.0))
    842     mean = np.mean(data)
    843     c0 = np.sum((data - mean) ** 2) / float(n)

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/autocorrelation_plot.png

Bootstrap Plot

Bootstrap plots are used to visually assess the uncertainty of a statistic, such as mean, median, midrange, etc. A random subset of a specified size is selected from a data set, the statistic in question is computed for this subset and the process is repeated a specified number of times. Resulting plots and histograms are what constitutes the bootstrap plot.

In [101]: from pandas.tools.plotting import bootstrap_plot

In [102]: data = pd.Series(np.random.rand(1000))

In [103]: bootstrap_plot(data, size=50, samples=500, color='grey')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-103-ab35f51c8c35> in <module>()
----> 1 bootstrap_plot(data, size=50, samples=500, color='grey')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in bootstrap_plot(series, fig, size, samples, **kwds)
    650                           for sampling in samplings])
    651     if fig is None:
--> 652         fig = plt.figure()
    653     x = lrange(samples)
    654     axes = []

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/bootstrap_plot.png

RadViz

RadViz is a way of visualizing multi-variate data. It is based on a simple spring tension minimization algorithm. Basically you set up a bunch of points in a plane. In our case they are equally spaced on a unit circle. Each point represents a single attribute. You then pretend that each sample in the data set is attached to each of these points by a spring, the stiffness of which is proportional to the numerical value of that attribute (they are normalized to unit interval). The point in the plane, where our sample settles to (where the forces acting on our sample are at an equilibrium) is where a dot representing our sample will be drawn. Depending on which class that sample belongs it will be colored differently.

Note: The “Iris” dataset is available here.

In [104]: from pandas.tools.plotting import radviz

In [105]: data = pd.read_csv('data/iris.data')

In [106]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-106-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [107]: radviz(data, 'Name')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-107-338b038cf6ed> in <module>()
----> 1 radviz(data, 'Name')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in radviz(frame, class_column, ax, color, colormap, **kwds)
    481 
    482     if ax is None:
--> 483         ax = plt.gca(xlim=[-1, 1], ylim=[-1, 1])
    484 
    485     to_plot = {}

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/radviz.png

Plot Formatting

Most plotting methods have a set of keyword arguments that control the layout and formatting of the returned plot:

In [108]: plt.figure(); ts.plot(style='k--', label='Series');
_static/series_plot_basic2.png

For each kind of plot (e.g. line, bar, scatter) any additional arguments keywords are passed along to the corresponding matplotlib function (ax.plot(), ax.bar(), ax.scatter()). These can be used to control additional styling, beyond what pandas provides.

Controlling the Legend

You may set the legend argument to False to hide the legend, which is shown by default.

In [109]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000, 4), index=ts.index, columns=list('ABCD'))

In [110]: df = df.cumsum()

In [111]: df.plot(legend=False)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-111-77cce09d96e9> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot(legend=False)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/frame_plot_basic_noleg.png

Scales

You may pass logy to get a log-scale Y axis.

In [112]: ts = pd.Series(np.random.randn(1000), index=pd.date_range('1/1/2000', periods=1000))

In [113]: ts = np.exp(ts.cumsum())

In [114]: ts.plot(logy=True)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-114-5ab34878158b> in <module>()
----> 1 ts.plot(logy=True)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/series_plot_logy.png

See also the logx and loglog keyword arguments.

Plotting on a Secondary Y-axis

To plot data on a secondary y-axis, use the secondary_y keyword:

In [115]: df.A.plot()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-115-0bd2f2663ad1> in <module>()
----> 1 df.A.plot()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [116]: df.B.plot(secondary_y=True, style='g')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-116-30575e3a7dff> in <module>()
----> 1 df.B.plot(secondary_y=True, style='g')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/series_plot_secondary_y.png

To plot some columns in a DataFrame, give the column names to the secondary_y keyword:

In [117]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-117-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [118]: ax = df.plot(secondary_y=['A', 'B'])
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-118-e67c19206c33> in <module>()
----> 1 ax = df.plot(secondary_y=['A', 'B'])

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [119]: ax.set_ylabel('CD scale')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-119-7f89d3ebe2a5> in <module>()
----> 1 ax.set_ylabel('CD scale')

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'set_ylabel'

In [120]: ax.right_ax.set_ylabel('AB scale')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-120-e1154c6f5d29> in <module>()
----> 1 ax.right_ax.set_ylabel('AB scale')

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'right_ax'
_static/frame_plot_secondary_y.png

Note that the columns plotted on the secondary y-axis is automatically marked with “(right)” in the legend. To turn off the automatic marking, use the mark_right=False keyword:

In [121]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-121-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [122]: df.plot(secondary_y=['A', 'B'], mark_right=False)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-122-90863fcd860d> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot(secondary_y=['A', 'B'], mark_right=False)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/frame_plot_secondary_y_no_right.png

Suppressing Tick Resolution Adjustment

pandas includes automatic tick resolution adjustment for regular frequency time-series data. For limited cases where pandas cannot infer the frequency information (e.g., in an externally created twinx), you can choose to suppress this behavior for alignment purposes.

Here is the default behavior, notice how the x-axis tick labelling is performed:

In [123]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-123-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [124]: df.A.plot()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-124-0bd2f2663ad1> in <module>()
----> 1 df.A.plot()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/ser_plot_suppress.png

Using the x_compat parameter, you can suppress this behavior:

In [125]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-125-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [126]: df.A.plot(x_compat=True)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-126-948658db877b> in <module>()
----> 1 df.A.plot(x_compat=True)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/ser_plot_suppress_parm.png

If you have more than one plot that needs to be suppressed, the use method in pandas.plot_params can be used in a with statement:

In [127]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-127-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [128]: with pd.plot_params.use('x_compat', True):
   .....:     df.A.plot(color='r')
   .....:     df.B.plot(color='g')
   .....:     df.C.plot(color='b')
   .....: 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-128-e8c65923f3cd> in <module>()
      1 with pd.plot_params.use('x_compat', True):
----> 2     df.A.plot(color='r')
      3     df.B.plot(color='g')
      4     df.C.plot(color='b')
      5 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   3598                            colormap=colormap, table=table, yerr=yerr,
   3599                            xerr=xerr, label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3600                            **kwds)
   3601     __call__.__doc__ = plot_series.__doc__
   3602 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_series(data, kind, ax, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, label, secondary_y, **kwds)
   2672                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2673                  label=label, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 2674                  **kwds)
   2675 
   2676 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/ser_plot_suppress_context.png

Subplots

Each Series in a DataFrame can be plotted on a different axis with the subplots keyword:

In [129]: df.plot(subplots=True, figsize=(6, 6));
_static/frame_plot_subplots.png

Using Layout and Targeting Multiple Axes

The layout of subplots can be specified by layout keyword. It can accept (rows, columns). The layout keyword can be used in hist and boxplot also. If input is invalid, ValueError will be raised.

The number of axes which can be contained by rows x columns specified by layout must be larger than the number of required subplots. If layout can contain more axes than required, blank axes are not drawn. Similar to a numpy array’s reshape method, you can use -1 for one dimension to automatically calculate the number of rows or columns needed, given the other.

In [130]: df.plot(subplots=True, layout=(2, 3), figsize=(6, 6), sharex=False);
_static/frame_plot_subplots_layout.png

The above example is identical to using

In [131]: df.plot(subplots=True, layout=(2, -1), figsize=(6, 6), sharex=False);

The required number of columns (3) is inferred from the number of series to plot and the given number of rows (2).

Also, you can pass multiple axes created beforehand as list-like via ax keyword. This allows to use more complicated layout. The passed axes must be the same number as the subplots being drawn.

When multiple axes are passed via ax keyword, layout, sharex and sharey keywords don’t affect to the output. You should explicitly pass sharex=False and sharey=False, otherwise you will see a warning.

In [132]: fig, axes = plt.subplots(4, 4, figsize=(6, 6));

In [133]: plt.subplots_adjust(wspace=0.5, hspace=0.5);

In [134]: target1 = [axes[0][0], axes[1][1], axes[2][2], axes[3][3]]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-134-bce2ff74b6af> in <module>()
----> 1 target1 = [axes[0][0], axes[1][1], axes[2][2], axes[3][3]]

NameError: name 'axes' is not defined

In [135]: target2 = [axes[3][0], axes[2][1], axes[1][2], axes[0][3]]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-135-0efbdf9a4435> in <module>()
----> 1 target2 = [axes[3][0], axes[2][1], axes[1][2], axes[0][3]]

NameError: name 'axes' is not defined

In [136]: df.plot(subplots=True, ax=target1, legend=False, sharex=False, sharey=False);

In [137]: (-df).plot(subplots=True, ax=target2, legend=False, sharex=False, sharey=False);
_static/frame_plot_subplots_multi_ax.png

Another option is passing an ax argument to Series.plot() to plot on a particular axis:

In [138]: fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrows=2, ncols=2)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-138-2353b2a37614> in <module>()
----> 1 fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrows=2, ncols=2)

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in subplots(nrows, ncols, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, gridspec_kw, **fig_kw)
   1175         gridspec_kw = {}
   1176 
-> 1177     fig = figure(**fig_kw)
   1178     gs = GridSpec(nrows, ncols, **gridspec_kw)
   1179 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [139]: df['A'].plot(ax=axes[0,0]); axes[0,0].set_title('A');

In [140]: df['B'].plot(ax=axes[0,1]); axes[0,1].set_title('B');

In [141]: df['C'].plot(ax=axes[1,0]); axes[1,0].set_title('C');

In [142]: df['D'].plot(ax=axes[1,1]); axes[1,1].set_title('D');
_static/series_plot_multi.png

Plotting With Error Bars

New in version 0.14.

Plotting with error bars is now supported in the DataFrame.plot() and Series.plot()

Horizontal and vertical errorbars can be supplied to the xerr and yerr keyword arguments to plot(). The error values can be specified using a variety of formats.

  • As a DataFrame or dict of errors with column names matching the columns attribute of the plotting DataFrame or matching the name attribute of the Series
  • As a str indicating which of the columns of plotting DataFrame contain the error values
  • As raw values (list, tuple, or np.ndarray). Must be the same length as the plotting DataFrame/Series

Asymmetrical error bars are also supported, however raw error values must be provided in this case. For a M length Series, a Mx2 array should be provided indicating lower and upper (or left and right) errors. For a MxN DataFrame, asymmetrical errors should be in a Mx2xN array.

Here is an example of one way to easily plot group means with standard deviations from the raw data.

# Generate the data
In [143]: ix3 = pd.MultiIndex.from_arrays([['a', 'a', 'a', 'a', 'b', 'b', 'b', 'b'], ['foo', 'foo', 'bar', 'bar', 'foo', 'foo', 'bar', 'bar']], names=['letter', 'word'])

In [144]: df3 = pd.DataFrame({'data1': [3, 2, 4, 3, 2, 4, 3, 2], 'data2': [6, 5, 7, 5, 4, 5, 6, 5]}, index=ix3)

# Group by index labels and take the means and standard deviations for each group
In [145]: gp3 = df3.groupby(level=('letter', 'word'))

In [146]: means = gp3.mean()

In [147]: errors = gp3.std()

In [148]: means
Out[148]: 
             data1  data2
letter word              
a      bar     3.5    6.0
       foo     2.5    5.5
b      bar     2.5    5.5
       foo     3.0    4.5

In [149]: errors
Out[149]: 
                data1     data2
letter word                    
a      bar   0.707107  1.414214
       foo   0.707107  0.707107
b      bar   0.707107  0.707107
       foo   1.414214  0.707107

# Plot
In [150]: fig, ax = plt.subplots()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-150-c49ba9de65d3> in <module>()
----> 1 fig, ax = plt.subplots()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in subplots(nrows, ncols, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, gridspec_kw, **fig_kw)
   1175         gridspec_kw = {}
   1176 
-> 1177     fig = figure(**fig_kw)
   1178     gs = GridSpec(nrows, ncols, **gridspec_kw)
   1179 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [151]: means.plot.bar(yerr=errors, ax=ax)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-151-ed331edbd009> in <module>()
----> 1 means.plot.bar(yerr=errors, ax=ax)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in bar(self, x, y, **kwds)
   3811         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3812         """
-> 3813         return self(kind='bar', x=x, y=y, **kwds)
   3814 
   3815     def barh(self, x=None, y=None, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:
-> 1096                 fig = self.ax.get_figure()
   1097                 if self.figsize is not None:
   1098                     fig.set_size_inches(self.figsize)

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'get_figure'
_static/errorbar_example.png

Plotting Tables

New in version 0.14.

Plotting with matplotlib table is now supported in DataFrame.plot() and Series.plot() with a table keyword. The table keyword can accept bool, DataFrame or Series. The simple way to draw a table is to specify table=True. Data will be transposed to meet matplotlib’s default layout.

In [152]: fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-152-f6bb38fc9afd> in <module>()
----> 1 fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in subplots(nrows, ncols, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, gridspec_kw, **fig_kw)
   1175         gridspec_kw = {}
   1176 
-> 1177     fig = figure(**fig_kw)
   1178     gs = GridSpec(nrows, ncols, **gridspec_kw)
   1179 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [153]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(5, 3), columns=['a', 'b', 'c'])

In [154]: ax.get_xaxis().set_visible(False)   # Hide Ticks
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-154-fa7059ff28d8> in <module>()
----> 1 ax.get_xaxis().set_visible(False)   # Hide Ticks

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'get_xaxis'

In [155]: df.plot(table=True, ax=ax)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-155-42849ed7bc02> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot(table=True, ax=ax)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:
-> 1096                 fig = self.ax.get_figure()
   1097                 if self.figsize is not None:
   1098                     fig.set_size_inches(self.figsize)

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'get_figure'
_static/line_plot_table_true.png

Also, you can pass different DataFrame or Series for table keyword. The data will be drawn as displayed in print method (not transposed automatically). If required, it should be transposed manually as below example.

In [156]: fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-156-f6bb38fc9afd> in <module>()
----> 1 fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in subplots(nrows, ncols, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, gridspec_kw, **fig_kw)
   1175         gridspec_kw = {}
   1176 
-> 1177     fig = figure(**fig_kw)
   1178     gs = GridSpec(nrows, ncols, **gridspec_kw)
   1179 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [157]: ax.get_xaxis().set_visible(False)   # Hide Ticks
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-157-fa7059ff28d8> in <module>()
----> 1 ax.get_xaxis().set_visible(False)   # Hide Ticks

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'get_xaxis'

In [158]: df.plot(table=np.round(df.T, 2), ax=ax)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-158-c011fd7ba0ce> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot(table=np.round(df.T, 2), ax=ax)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:
-> 1096                 fig = self.ax.get_figure()
   1097                 if self.figsize is not None:
   1098                     fig.set_size_inches(self.figsize)

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'get_figure'
_static/line_plot_table_data.png

Finally, there is a helper function pandas.tools.plotting.table to create a table from DataFrame and Series, and add it to an matplotlib.Axes. This function can accept keywords which matplotlib table has.

In [159]: from pandas.tools.plotting import table

In [160]: fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-160-f6bb38fc9afd> in <module>()
----> 1 fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in subplots(nrows, ncols, sharex, sharey, squeeze, subplot_kw, gridspec_kw, **fig_kw)
   1175         gridspec_kw = {}
   1176 
-> 1177     fig = figure(**fig_kw)
   1178     gs = GridSpec(nrows, ncols, **gridspec_kw)
   1179 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [161]: table(ax, np.round(df.describe(), 2),
   .....:       loc='upper right', colWidths=[0.2, 0.2, 0.2])
   .....: 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-161-4816d5cb391f> in <module>()
      1 table(ax, np.round(df.describe(), 2),
----> 2       loc='upper right', colWidths=[0.2, 0.2, 0.2])

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in table(ax, data, rowLabels, colLabels, **kwargs)
   3240     table = matplotlib.table.table(ax, cellText=cellText,
   3241                                    rowLabels=rowLabels,
-> 3242                                    colLabels=colLabels, **kwargs)
   3243     return table
   3244 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/table.pyc in table(ax, cellText, cellColours, cellLoc, colWidths, rowLabels, rowColours, rowLoc, colLabels, colColours, colLoc, loc, bbox, edges, **kwargs)
    614 
    615     # Now create the table
--> 616     table = Table(ax, loc, bbox, **kwargs)
    617     table.edges = edges
    618     height = table._approx_text_height()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/table.pyc in __init__(self, ax, loc, bbox, **kwargs)
    261         if is_string_like(loc):
    262             loc = self.codes.get(loc, 1)
--> 263         self.set_figure(ax.figure)
    264         self._axes = ax
    265         self._loc = loc

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'figure'

In [162]: df.plot(ax=ax, ylim=(0, 2), legend=None)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-162-7ef31d6a27fa> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot(ax=ax, ylim=(0, 2), legend=None)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:
-> 1096                 fig = self.ax.get_figure()
   1097                 if self.figsize is not None:
   1098                     fig.set_size_inches(self.figsize)

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'get_figure'
_static/line_plot_table_describe.png

Note: You can get table instances on the axes using axes.tables property for further decorations. See the matplotlib table documentation for more.

Colormaps

A potential issue when plotting a large number of columns is that it can be difficult to distinguish some series due to repetition in the default colors. To remedy this, DataFrame plotting supports the use of the colormap= argument, which accepts either a Matplotlib colormap or a string that is a name of a colormap registered with Matplotlib. A visualization of the default matplotlib colormaps is available here.

As matplotlib does not directly support colormaps for line-based plots, the colors are selected based on an even spacing determined by the number of columns in the DataFrame. There is no consideration made for background color, so some colormaps will produce lines that are not easily visible.

To use the cubehelix colormap, we can simply pass 'cubehelix' to colormap=

In [163]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000, 10), index=ts.index)

In [164]: df = df.cumsum()

In [165]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-165-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [166]: df.plot(colormap='cubehelix')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-166-63d6fc8d539e> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot(colormap='cubehelix')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/cubehelix.png

or we can pass the colormap itself

In [167]: from matplotlib import cm

In [168]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-168-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [169]: df.plot(colormap=cm.cubehelix)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-169-b233a0eb9d3a> in <module>()
----> 1 df.plot(colormap=cm.cubehelix)

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/cubehelix_cm.png

Colormaps can also be used other plot types, like bar charts:

In [170]: dd = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(10, 10)).applymap(abs)

In [171]: dd = dd.cumsum()

In [172]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-172-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [173]: dd.plot.bar(colormap='Greens')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-173-702bcc020b88> in <module>()
----> 1 dd.plot.bar(colormap='Greens')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in bar(self, x, y, **kwds)
   3811         axes : matplotlib.AxesSubplot or np.array of them
   3812         """
-> 3813         return self(kind='bar', x=x, y=y, **kwds)
   3814 
   3815     def barh(self, x=None, y=None, **kwds):

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in __call__(self, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   3772                           fontsize=fontsize, colormap=colormap, table=table,
   3773                           yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr, secondary_y=secondary_y,
-> 3774                           sort_columns=sort_columns, **kwds)
   3775     __call__.__doc__ = plot_frame.__doc__
   3776 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in plot_frame(data, x, y, kind, ax, subplots, sharex, sharey, layout, figsize, use_index, title, grid, legend, style, logx, logy, loglog, xticks, yticks, xlim, ylim, rot, fontsize, colormap, table, yerr, xerr, secondary_y, sort_columns, **kwds)
   2641                  yerr=yerr, xerr=xerr,
   2642                  secondary_y=secondary_y, sort_columns=sort_columns,
-> 2643                  **kwds)
   2644 
   2645 

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _plot(data, x, y, subplots, ax, kind, **kwds)
   2468         plot_obj = klass(data, subplots=subplots, ax=ax, kind=kind, **kwds)
   2469 
-> 2470     plot_obj.generate()
   2471     plot_obj.draw()
   2472     return plot_obj.result

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in generate(self)
   1040         self._args_adjust()
   1041         self._compute_plot_data()
-> 1042         self._setup_subplots()
   1043         self._make_plot()
   1044         self._add_table()

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in _setup_subplots(self)
   1091         else:
   1092             if self.ax is None:
-> 1093                 fig = self.plt.figure(figsize=self.figsize)
   1094                 axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
   1095             else:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/greens.png

Parallel coordinates charts:

In [174]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-174-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [175]: parallel_coordinates(data, 'Name', colormap='gist_rainbow')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-175-8e1c31cb6b15> in <module>()
----> 1 parallel_coordinates(data, 'Name', colormap='gist_rainbow')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/util/decorators.pyc in wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
     89                 else:
     90                     kwargs[new_arg_name] = new_arg_value
---> 91             return func(*args, **kwargs)
     92         return wrapper
     93     return _deprecate_kwarg

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/util/decorators.pyc in wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
     89                 else:
     90                     kwargs[new_arg_name] = new_arg_value
---> 91             return func(*args, **kwargs)
     92         return wrapper
     93     return _deprecate_kwarg

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in parallel_coordinates(frame, class_column, cols, ax, color, use_columns, xticks, colormap, axvlines, axvlines_kwds, **kwds)
    761 
    762     if ax is None:
--> 763         ax = plt.gca()
    764 
    765     color_values = _get_standard_colors(num_colors=len(classes),

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/parallel_gist_rainbow.png

Andrews curves charts:

In [176]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-176-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [177]: andrews_curves(data, 'Name', colormap='winter')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-177-9949025c7e40> in <module>()
----> 1 andrews_curves(data, 'Name', colormap='winter')

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/util/decorators.pyc in wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
     89                 else:
     90                     kwargs[new_arg_name] = new_arg_value
---> 91             return func(*args, **kwargs)
     92         return wrapper
     93     return _deprecate_kwarg

/build/pandas-iAgoYw/pandas-0.19.2/debian/python-pandas/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pandas/tools/plotting.pyc in andrews_curves(frame, class_column, ax, samples, color, colormap, **kwds)
    604     colors = dict(zip(classes, color_values))
    605     if ax is None:
--> 606         ax = plt.gca(xlim=(-pi, pi))
    607     for i in range(n):
    608         row = df.iloc[i].values

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/andrews_curve_winter.png

Plotting directly with matplotlib

In some situations it may still be preferable or necessary to prepare plots directly with matplotlib, for instance when a certain type of plot or customization is not (yet) supported by pandas. Series and DataFrame objects behave like arrays and can therefore be passed directly to matplotlib functions without explicit casts.

pandas also automatically registers formatters and locators that recognize date indices, thereby extending date and time support to practically all plot types available in matplotlib. Although this formatting does not provide the same level of refinement you would get when plotting via pandas, it can be faster when plotting a large number of points.

Note

The speed up for large data sets only applies to pandas 0.14.0 and later.

In [178]: price = pd.Series(np.random.randn(150).cumsum(),
   .....:                   index=pd.date_range('2000-1-1', periods=150, freq='B'))
   .....: 

In [179]: ma = price.rolling(20).mean()

In [180]: mstd = price.rolling(20).std()

In [181]: plt.figure()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-181-75657f11a66b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.figure()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [182]: plt.plot(price.index, price, 'k')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-182-c799cff89116> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.plot(price.index, price, 'k')

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in plot(*args, **kwargs)
   3145 @_autogen_docstring(Axes.plot)
   3146 def plot(*args, **kwargs):
-> 3147     ax = gca()
   3148     # allow callers to override the hold state by passing hold=True|False
   3149     washold = ax.ishold()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [183]: plt.plot(ma.index, ma, 'b')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-183-ad69c45f1709> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.plot(ma.index, ma, 'b')

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in plot(*args, **kwargs)
   3145 @_autogen_docstring(Axes.plot)
   3146 def plot(*args, **kwargs):
-> 3147     ax = gca()
   3148     # allow callers to override the hold state by passing hold=True|False
   3149     washold = ax.ishold()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

In [184]: plt.fill_between(mstd.index, ma-2*mstd, ma+2*mstd, color='b', alpha=0.2)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TclError                                  Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-184-2fac449eb57b> in <module>()
----> 1 plt.fill_between(mstd.index, ma-2*mstd, ma+2*mstd, color='b', alpha=0.2)

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in fill_between(x, y1, y2, where, interpolate, step, hold, data, **kwargs)
   2878 def fill_between(x, y1, y2=0, where=None, interpolate=False, step=None,
   2879                  hold=None, data=None, **kwargs):
-> 2880     ax = gca()
   2881     # allow callers to override the hold state by passing hold=True|False
   2882     washold = ax.ishold()

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gca(**kwargs)
    926     matplotlib.figure.Figure.gca : The figure's gca method.
    927     """
--> 928     return gcf().gca(**kwargs)
    929 
    930 # More ways of creating axes:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in gcf()
    576         return figManager.canvas.figure
    577     else:
--> 578         return figure()
    579 
    580 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in figure(num, figsize, dpi, facecolor, edgecolor, frameon, FigureClass, **kwargs)
    525                                         frameon=frameon,
    526                                         FigureClass=FigureClass,
--> 527                                         **kwargs)
    528 
    529         if figLabel:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager(num, *args, **kwargs)
     82     FigureClass = kwargs.pop('FigureClass', Figure)
     83     figure = FigureClass(*args, **kwargs)
---> 84     return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     85 
     86 

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.pyc in new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, figure)
     90     """
     91     _focus = windowing.FocusManager()
---> 92     window = Tk.Tk()
     93     window.withdraw()
     94 

/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.pyc in __init__(self, screenName, baseName, className, useTk, sync, use)
   1816                 baseName = baseName + ext
   1817         interactive = 0
-> 1818         self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
   1819         if useTk:
   1820             self._loadtk()

TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
_static/bollinger.png

Trellis plotting interface

Warning

The rplot trellis plotting interface has been removed. Please use external packages like seaborn for similar but more refined functionality and refer to our 0.18.1 documentation here for how to convert to using it.

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