matplotlib rotate x axis labels

Matplotlib is a popular data visualization library in Python that allows users to create a wide variety of plots and charts. One common task when creating plots is the need to rotate the x-axis labels for better readability. In this article, we will explore different methods to rotate x-axis labels in Matplotlib.

Method 1: Using `plt.xticks()` with `rotation` argument

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xticks(rotation=45) # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we use plt.xticks() with the rotation argument to rotate the x-axis labels by 45 degrees. This method allows us to specify the rotation angle for the x-axis labels.

Method 2: Using `plt.setp()` to rotate x-axis labels

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.setp(plt.gca().get_xticklabels(), rotation=90) # Rotate x-axis labels by 90 degrees
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we use plt.setp() to set properties for the x-axis labels. We access the x-axis labels using plt.gca().get_xticklabels() and rotate them by 90 degrees.

Method 3: Using `plt.xticks()` with `rotation_mode` argument

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xticks(rotation=45, rotation_mode='anchor') # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees with anchor rotation mode
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we use plt.xticks() with the rotation_mode argument set to ‘anchor’. This rotation mode rotates the x-axis labels around their anchor point, which can be useful when dealing with long labels.

Method 4: Using `plt.xticks()` with custom labels

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

labels = ['This is a long label that needs rotation', 'Label 2', 'Label 3', 'Label 4', 'Label 5']

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xticks(x, labels, rotation=45) # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees with custom labels
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we provide custom labels for the x-axis using the labels list and rotate them by 45 degrees using plt.xticks().

Method 5: Rotating x-axis labels for a bar chart

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data
x = ['Label 1', 'Label 2', 'Label 3', 'Label 4', 'Label 5']
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.bar(x, y)
plt.xticks(rotation=90) # Rotate x-axis labels by 90 degrees for a bar chart
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we create a bar chart and rotate the x-axis labels by 90 degrees for better readability.

Method 6: Adding padding to rotated x-axis labels

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xticks(rotation=45, ha='right') # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees with right alignment
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we use the ha='right' argument in plt.xticks() to right-align the x-axis labels after rotating them by 45 degrees.

Method 7: Rotating x-axis labels with custom font properties

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.font_manager import FontProperties

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
font = FontProperties()
font.set_size('small') # Set font size to small
plt.xticks(rotation=45, fontproperties=font) # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees with custom font properties
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we create custom font properties for the x-axis labels using FontProperties() and set the font size to ‘small’ before rotating them by 45 degrees.

Method 8: Rotating x-axis labels with a specific font style

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.font_manager import FontProperties

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
font = FontProperties()
font.set_family('serif') # Set font family to serif
plt.xticks(rotation=45, fontproperties=font) # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees with specific font style
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we set the font family to ‘serif’ for the x-axis labels using FontProperties() before rotating them by 45 degrees.

Method 9: Rotating x-axis labels with custom label size

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xticks(fontsize=8) # Set font size to 8 for x-axis labels
plt.xticks(rotation=45) # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees with custom label size
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we set the font size to 8 for the x-axis labels using the fontsize argument in plt.xticks() before rotating them by 45 degrees.

Method 10: Rotating x-axis labels with a specific font weight

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.font_manager import FontProperties

# Sample data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [10, 20, 15, 25, 30]

plt.plot(x, y)
font = FontProperties()
font.set_weight('bold') # Set font weight to bold
plt.xticks(rotation=45, fontproperties=font) # Rotate x-axis labels by 45 degrees with specific font weight
plt.show()

Output:

In this example, we set the font weight to ‘bold’ for the x-axis labels using FontProperties() before rotating them by 45 degrees.