Matplotlib Ticked Patheffect

Introduction

In this lab, we will learn how to add ticks along a line in Matplotlib using Ticked Patheffect. Ticks can be added to mark one side as a barrier and you can control the angle, spacing, and length of the ticks. Ticks will also appear appropriately in the legend.

VM Tips

After the VM startup is done, click the top left corner to switch to the Notebook tab to access Jupyter Notebook for practice.

Sometimes, you may need to wait a few seconds for Jupyter Notebook to finish loading. The validation of operations cannot be automated because of limitations in Jupyter Notebook.

If you face issues during learning, feel free to ask Labby. Provide feedback after the session, and we will promptly resolve the problem for you.

Import Libraries and Generate Data

We will first import the necessary libraries and generate some data for plotting.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

from matplotlib import patheffects

## Generate data
nx = 101
x = np.linspace(0.0, 1.0, nx)
y = 0.3*np.sin(x*8) + 0.4

Plot a Straight Line with Ticked Patheffect

We will now plot a straight diagonal line with ticked patheffect.

## Plot a straight diagonal line with ticked style path
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(6, 6))
ax.plot([0, 1], [0, 1], label="Line",
        path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke(spacing=7, angle=135)])

Plot a Curved Line with Ticked Patheffect

We will now plot a curved line with ticked patheffect.

## Plot a curved line with ticked style path
ax.plot(x, y, label="Curve", path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke()])

ax.legend()

plt.show()

Summary

In this lab, we have learned how to add ticks along a line in Matplotlib using Ticked Patheffect. We have also learned how to control the angle, spacing, and length of the ticks. Ticks will also appear appropriately in the legend.