Matplotlib Title Font Size

Matplotlib is a popular Python library used for creating high-quality visualizations and graphs. It provides a wide range of options to customize the appearance of plots, including the font size of the title. The title of a plot is essential to convey the main idea or purpose of the visualization to the audience. In this article, we will explore different ways to set the font size of the title in Matplotlib and provide code examples to demonstrate their usage.

Setting the Font Size of the Title

There are multiple approaches to set the font size of the title in Matplotlib. We will discuss each of them in detail.

Method 1: Using `title` Function

One of the simplest ways to set the font size of the title is by using the title function and specifying the fontsize parameter. This parameter allows us to define the font size in points.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.title("Title with Font Size", fontsize=16)
plt.show()

Output:

In the above example, we create a simple line plot using plot function. Then, we set the title using the title function and specify the fontsize parameter as 16. This will set the font size of the title to 16 points.

Method 2: Using `set_title` Function

Another way to set the font size of the title is by using the set_title function on the Axes object. This method allows us to customize various aspects of the title, including the font size.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot(x, y)
ax.set_title("Title with Font Size", fontsize=16)
plt.show()

Output:

In the above example, we create a figure and an axes using subplots function. Then, we plot the data on the axes using plot function. Finally, we set the title using the set_title function and specify the fontsize parameter as 16. This will set the font size of the title to 16 points.

Method 3: Using `suptitle` Function

If you want to set the font size of the main title of the figure rather than the title of a specific subplot, you can use the suptitle function in Matplotlib.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot(x, y)
plt.suptitle("Main Title with Font Size", fontsize=16)
plt.show()

Output:

In the above example, we create a figure and an axes using subplots function. Then, we plot the data on the axes using plot function. Finally, we set the main title using the suptitle function and specify the fontsize parameter as 16. This will set the font size of the main title to 16 points.

Method 4: Using `FontProperties` Object

Matplotlib also allows us to set the font size of the title using a FontProperties object. This method provides more control over various font-related attributes, including the size.

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

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

font = FontProperties()
font.set_size(16)

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.title("Title with Font Properties", fontproperties=font)
plt.show()

Output:

In the above example, we create a simple line plot using plot function. Then, we set the title using the title function and specify the fontproperties parameter as font, which is a FontProperties object with a font size of 16 points.

Method 5: Using `rcParams` Configuration

Matplotlib provides the rcParams configuration option, which allows us to set various default settings for our plots. We can use this option to set the font size of the title globally.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib as mpl

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

mpl.rcParams['axes.titlesize'] = 16

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.title("Title with rcParams Configuration")
plt.show()

Output:

In the above example, we use the rcParams dictionary from matplotlib module to set the axes.titlesize parameter to 16. This will change the default font size of the title for all the plots in the script.

Method 6: Using `title` as Method Chaining

Another way to set the font size of the title is by using method chaining with the title function. This allows us to set multiple attributes of the title in a single line of code.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

plt.plot(x, y).title("Title with Font Size", fontsize=16)
plt.show()

In the above example, we create a simple line plot using plot function. Then, we use method chaining with the title function to set the font size of the title to 16 points.

Method 7: Using `pyplot.rc` Configuration

Similar to rcParams, Matplotlib provides the pyplot.rc function to configure default settings for the current script. We can use this function to set the font size of the title.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

plt.rc('axes', titlesize=16)

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.title("Title with pyplot.rc Configuration")
plt.show()

Output:

In the above example, we use the pyplot.rc function to set the titlesize parameter of the axes to 16. This will change the default font size of the title for all the plots in the script.

Method 8: Using `FontProperties` as Method Argument

Although we have already discussed using a FontProperties object to set the font size of the title, it is also possible to directly pass the FontProperties object as a method argument.

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

x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8]

font = FontProperties(size=16)

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.title("Title with Font Properties", fontproperties=font)
plt.show()

Output:

In the above example, we create a simple line plot using plot function. Then, we set the title using the title function and pass the font object as the fontproperties argument. The font object is a FontProperties object with a font size of 16 points.

Matplotlib Title Font Size