Figure Styles¶

Matplotlib provides built-in style sheets for consistent and professional-looking plots.

Available Styles¶

List all available styles:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

print(plt.style.available)

Common styles include:

'seaborn-v0_8-darkgrid'
'ggplot'
'bmh'
'fivethirtyeight'
'dark_background'

Using plt.style.use¶

Apply a style globally:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

days = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
avg_t = [25, 28, 28, 26, 20, 22, 21]

plt.style.use("seaborn-v0_8-darkgrid")

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 3))
ax.plot(days, avg_t, 'r--o')
plt.show()

Temporary Style Context¶

Apply a style temporarily using a context manager:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

with plt.style.context('ggplot'):
    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
    ax.plot([1, 2, 3, 4])
    plt.show()

# Style reverts after the context

The xkcd Style¶

Create hand-drawn style plots:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

days = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
avg_t = [25, 28, 28, 26, 20, 22, 21]

plt.xkcd()

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 3))
ax.plot(days, avg_t, 'r--o')
plt.show()

Note

The xkcd style requires the "Humor Sans" font for best results.

Combining Multiple Styles¶

Styles can be combined by passing a list:

plt.style.use(['seaborn-v0_8-darkgrid', 'seaborn-v0_8-talk'])

Later styles override earlier ones for conflicting settings.

Creating Custom Styles¶

Create a custom style file (e.g., mystyle.mplstyle):

# mystyle.mplstyle
axes.facecolor: white
axes.edgecolor: black
axes.grid: True
grid.color: gray
grid.linestyle: --
lines.linewidth: 2
font.size: 12

Use it with:

plt.style.use('./mystyle.mplstyle')

Resetting to Default¶

Reset to Matplotlib defaults:

import matplotlib as mpl
mpl.rcParams.update(mpl.rcParamsDefault)

Or use the default style:

plt.style.use('default')

Key Takeaways¶

plt.style.available lists all built-in styles
plt.style.use() applies a style globally
Use context managers for temporary style changes
plt.xkcd() creates hand-drawn style plots
Custom styles can be saved as .mplstyle files