How to use variable number arguments to pyplot.plot?

Question

This is my data and the graph I want to produce:

from numpy import array
from os.path import expanduser
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
sns.set(style="darkgrid")

data = [array([8, 4, 9, 6, 2]), array([5, 4, 4, 1, 2]), array([4, 3, 1, 5, 6]), array([8, 3, 5, 6, 4])]

for d in data:
    plt.plot(d)

# plt.savefig(expanduser("~/Documents/rural_juror.pdf"))

Since I want to plot several of those in the same seaborn facetgrid I cannot use a loop, but have to do it on one line, like so:

plt.plot(*data)
# produces same result as 
# plt.plot(data[0], data[1], data[2], data[3])

This does not work, however, but produces a graph like so:

enter image description here

I'm guessing this has to do with the arguments to plot being of the type data, looks, data, looks... but how do I work around this?

MSeifert · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-10 11:24:34Z

4

Yes, you need to give the x and y values if you want to do it with a one-liner. You could do it like this:

import numpy as np
x = np.arange(5)
data = [x, array([8, 4, 9, 6, 2]),
        x, array([5, 4, 4, 1, 2]),
        x, array([4, 3, 1, 5, 6]),
        x, array([8, 3, 5, 6, 4])]
plt.plot(*data)

answered Feb 10, 2016 at 11:24

MSeifert

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1 Comment

The Unfun Cat Over a year ago

Ah, it is x and y, not x and aes. Thanks! The relevant docs are here: matplotlib.org/api/pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot Had I found the earlier I would not have asked. Thanks again.

Francesco Nazzaro · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-10 11:26:21Z

1

For a one line loop statement you can use a list comprehension like this:

lines = [plt.plot(d) for d in data]

lines will be a list of matplotlib.lines.Line2D objects.

answered Feb 10, 2016 at 11:26

Francesco Nazzaro

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Comments

steven · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-10 11:28:18Z

0

I can't test this without installing seaborn, but it looks like the FacetGrid uses a DataFrame for is data input. http://stanford.edu/~mwaskom/software/seaborn/generated/seaborn.FacetGrid.html

So this should work

import pandas as pd
data = [array([8, 4, 9, 6, 2]), array([5, 4, 4, 1, 2]), array([4, 3, 1, 5, 6]), array([8, 3, 5, 6, 4])]

df = pd.DataFrame(data)
df.transpose() #not sure if you need it transposed
g = sns.FacetGrid(df)

answered Feb 10, 2016 at 11:28

steven

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